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THE 

SHAKESPEARIAN REFEREE, 

A CYCLOPAEDIA 

OF 

FOUR THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED WORDS, 

OBSOLETE AND MODERN, 

OCCURRING IN THE PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE, 

With original and other explanations, commentaries, annotations, 
etymologies, etc., derived from a great variety 
■ of authentic sources. 

TO WHICH ARE ADDED 

TRANSLATIONS OF ALL THE LATIN, FRENCH, ITALIAN, AND SPANISH 
WORDS OCCURRING IN THE PLAYS. 



BY ,^ 



J. H. SIDDONS. isr , 



~~~7£ f 



The Work was suggested by the penurious character of the Glossaries. 



WASHINGTON : 
W. H. LOWDERMILK & Co. 

1 886. 






Copyright, 1886, 
By Maby Agnes Siddons. 



Gibson Bros., Printers, 
Washington, D. C. 



DEDICATED WITH PROFOUND RESPECT 



Mr. HENRY IRVING. 



IN PREFERENCE TO ANY DEDICATORY LANGUAGE OF MY OWN, I USE 

THE JUST AND BRILLIANT TRIBUTE PAID TO HIM BY 

THE LONDON TELEGRAPH, WHICH SAYS : 

"We hold of Mr. Henry Irving that during his career of management he has 
brought Shakespeare home to the people through the public presentation of his 
plays. Instead of destroying the garden he has cleared it of weeds. The Shakespeare 
of the stage has often been vulgarized by careless managers and vain actors. Some 
enemy in the night has sown tares among the wheat. By careful husbandry the 
Lyceum manager has cleared the crop of its noxious undergrowth. The heresies of 
David Garrick and Colley Cibber have disappeared from the best known of the 
Shakespearian plays, and no one can honestly say that in any of Mr. Irving's stage 
versions, however beautiful in colour, glowing in dress, or superb in panorama, he 
has ever rejected one beautiful thought, ever crushed one vital scene, or ever wilfully 
suppressed or mutilated one sublime passage. He has restored far more than he has 
omitted, and in the aftertime people will own, who have carefully followed his truly 
national work, that he, as much if not more than any English manager, has made 
Shakespeare understood, appreciated, and loved by his countrymen." 



PREFACE 



A love and veneration for Shakespeare's immortal crea- 
tions, and a familiarity with the mass of literature they have 
iD spired, and which has found its expressions in every con- 
ceivable form, in every country, and in every language of 
the globe, for the past three hundred years, will be con- 
ceded by the reader to the author of the following pages. 
A pure taste, a rare talent for research, a liberal education, 
which included the study of humanity in many of its ab- 
stract principles, as well as in its intellectual phases, will 
also be appreciated by the thoughtful scholar and ardent 
student of Shakespeare. A mind of such order, with a sin- 
gular industry as to time and opportunity, together with a 
memory as tenacious and clear at eighty-five as at eighteen, 
are certainly possessions of no mean value, and should at 
least entitle the owner to a full share of public confidence 
in any work which he might see fit to publish. Such a 
store of knowledge, gleaned from such rich fields of 
thought before and after other reapers had reaped, that no 
grain of fact or fancy should be lost by which his gift to 
posterity could be enriched, has been a cherished object 
for many years of Mr. Siddons' life. But, alas ! the 
hands which should have rounded to symmetry the work 
as it passed through the press are forever at rest. Death, 



vi Preface. 

the mighty gleaner of all mortal life, has used his scythe. 
Still, the deep regret expressed by those interested in 
the labors of Mr. Siddons, that the present work must 
pass from the press without the valuable aid which his 
correction would give to his book, must not lead us,- 
however, to forget, in our selfish disappointment, to thank 
those friends who, in the supreme moment of bereave- 
ment, gave their services unstintingly to the correction of 
proof-sheets, and to forward in every way the object 
which the author held so dear at heart, namely, the 
production of the Shakespearian Referee. 



INTRODUCTION, 



The Shakespearian Referee is, we believe, the only work 
of its peculiar character extant. Glossaries without number, 
and more or less valuable to the student, accompany many 
of the annotated editions of Shakespeare's works, and form 
part of the literature of each successive generation since 
the time of Shakespeare to the present period. A few 
of these works show an unmistakable intellectual calibre, 
with high scholastic attainments of the first order ; the 
majority, however, are obtuse and almost obscure when 
they seek to explain a word or passage that is in the least 
profound in its philosophy or uncertain in its meaning, and 
extreme tenuity of thought might very well apply in illus- 
trating the character of their pages. 

But in all human work error is a prime ingredient. Some 
workers have a wonderful knack of exposing defect, others 
the happy faculty of hiding fault, but it is never absent — it 
may sit in the aperture of the one lost brick, or support the 
failing strength of the one decaying beam, but it is always 
there. The circumstances surrounding the Shakespearian 
Referee as it went into the printer's hands, and during its 
progress to those of the public, are in themselves sufficient 
to mark it with error. Therefore, we hope that severe 
criticism will be turned aside, and judicious comment, like 



viii Introduction. 

the pruning knife to the tree, will give strength to future 
editions of the book, and fruit that the readers and lovers 
of Shakespeare will enjoy without stint. 

The Shakespearian Eeferee includes in its scope not only 
four thousand words, with then modern meaning ; not only 
original thought and reflection apropos of so suggestive a 
theme; but rare scraps of information concerning their 
primitive state, their wondrous change, and subtle growth — 
showing how the domestic and political needs of the people, 
as they advanced toward a higher plane and achieved a loftier 
standard of intelligence, forced into life a more polished 
mode of expression, so that many words well equipped with 
sound reason at their first step fell in the ranks and were 
carried to the rear in the grand march of time. 



SHAKESPEARIAN REFEREE. 



A. 

A'. A vulgar substitute for " he." 

Abate. To subdue ; depress ; lower. 

Abated. Dejected. 

Abatement. Diminution. 

Aberga'ny. An abbreviation of Abergavenny, (Wales,) and the 
ordinary method of pronouncing the longer word. 

Abhor. To protest against. 

Abide. To wait upon ; be responsible for. 

Abirding. Hawking ; falconry. 

Abjects. Debased individuals ; the lowest subjects in a mon- 
archy. 

Able. To qualify ; uphold. 

Abraham Cupid. It has been surmised in sundry editions of 
Shakespeare's plays that this is a mistake of the copyist 
or printer for "Adam Cupid," or "Adam Bell," or "Au- 
burn Cupid." Wiry disturb the original supposition 
that the author wrote "Abraham Cupid?" No man in 
Scripture history enjoyed more of the favor over which 
the mythological deity presided than "Father Abraham." 
God promised to make of him a great nation ; and his 
family alliances and affairs, in which Cupid officiated, 
seem to have contributed to the fulfilment of the promise. 

Abridgment. Brief entertainment. 

Abroach. Revived ; breach ; renewed quarrel. 

Abrook. To brook ; abide. 

Absey Book. ABC book — a catechism ; a rudimental work. 

Absolute. Positive ; certain. 

Absque hoc nihil est. (Lat.) Without thee there is nothing. 

Absyotas. The brother of Medea, murdered by her when she 
fled from Colchos with Jason. 

Abused. Deceived. 



2 

Abuser. Impostor ; deluder. 

Aby. To suffer ; abide by experience. 

Abysm. Abyss ; depth. 

Accite. To incite ; summon. 

Accomplished. Equipped. 

Accountant. Responsible ; criminal. 

Accuse. An accusation. 

Acheron. One of the rivers of the infernal regions. 

Aches. Pains. That this word was pronounced " aitches " 
in Shakespeare's time is to be inferred from the poetical 
measure of the text in The Tempest, Timon of Athens, 
and other plays. 

Achieve. To accomplish. 

Acknown. Known to ; acknowledged. 

Aconitum. Wolf's bane. 

Across. Unskilfully. 

Adam Bell. A famous archer, and, like Robin Hood, an out- 
law who was made the subject of a ballad. 

Adamant. Magnetic power. 

Addition. Character ; title ; rank. 

Address. To prepare oneself. 

Addressed. Ready! 

Admittance. Fashion. 

Ado. To do ; bother. 

Adsum. Present ! here ! at hand ! 

Advance. To prefer ; honor ; promote. 

Advertise. To admonish ; to procure a substitute. 

Advertising. Paying attention. 

Advise. Reflect ; take heed ; follow the counsel of older and 
wiser people. 

Advocation. Oratorical pleading. 

Aery, or Airie. An eagle's or hawk's nest. 

Affeard. Afraid. 

Affect the letter. To practice alliteration. 

Affects. Afflictions ; passions. 

Affecteth. Inclines towards. 

Affiance. Trust ; confidence ; loyalty. 

Affianced — Affined. Allied to ; connected by blood or office. 

Affront. Confront ; encounter ; attack. 

Affy. To betroth ; to rely upon. 



Afield. In the field with the forces. 

Afoot. Ready ; standing ; prepared. 

Agate eing. The agate implied a diminutive person. The 
addition "ring" suggests the rotundity of the figure 
of the person addressed ; an inn-keeper. 

Agazed. Looking amazed. 

Agebnon. The father of Europa, who was carried off by Ju- 
piter and married to him at Crete. 

Aggeavate. Different significations are given to this word by 
lexicographers and common use. "Softening" and "ir- 
ritating " are equally applicable. Falstaff ( Merry Wives) 
uses the word in the latter and even a broader sense. 
Bottom, the weaver, employs it in the former sense, to 
render his voice more mellifluous. 

Agincottet, or Azincoue. A village in France near which Henry 
V of England gained a great battle on St. Crispin's Day. 

Aglet, or Aiguillette. (From the Fr. aiguille — a needle.) 
The tag or a point of a cord forming a decoration, either 
of worsted, cotton, or bullion, according to the rank and 
position of the wearer. Attached to the right shoulder 
and drawn to the centre of the chest the points fall 
three or four inches below the attachment. 

Aglet-baby. An infant pleased with an aiguillette. 

Agnise. Confess ; acknowledge. 

Agood. Earnestly ; heartily. 

Ahold. An old sea phrase, meaning "hauled up." 

Aident. Helpful, (from the Fr. aider — to assist.) 

Aim. Guess ; experience. 

Aio. Aio te JEneide — Momanus vincere posse. " I say 
that thou, JEneas, the Romans may conquer." An am- 
biguous reply from the oracle. 

A la nostea casa ben venuto molte honorato, Signor mio Pe- 
truchio. ( To our house right welcome with much honor, 
my lord jPetruchio.) 

Alcides. Another name for Hercules. Shakespeare uses both 
names in the same speech, euphuistically, simply to avoid 
repetition. 

Aldee-liefest. (Germ.) Best beloved. 

Ale. The Yule — a word of Scandinavian origin, implying the 
months of November and December, and having refer- 



ence to a feast, whence old England translated it to 
Christmas time, when ale was drank at the annual com- 
memoration. 

Alecto. One of the Furies. 

Alice. "Alice tu as ete en Angleterre," &c. (See Appendix 
for the entire translation of the dialogue in Henry J 7 ", in 
which this passage, et seq., occurs.) 

Aliena. Oelia (As You Like It) adopts this name because it 
is most alien to her social position at Court. 

All Hallown Summer. A whimsical title for an individual in 
whom the frost of age is combined with the frolicsome 
spirit of youth — Falstaff* for instance. 

Alliteration. For a happy satire on the tendency of Shakes- 
peare's contemporary writers to indulge in alliteration, 
see the Prologue to the artisan's play in A Midsummer 
N'ighfs Dream. 

AlLons. (Fr.) Come; come along; let us go. 

Allowance. Favorable acceptance. 

All waters. An allusion to the hue, clearness, and brilliancy 
of jewels, the topaze being one of them. Timon of 
Athens. 

All ways. In every direction ; as distinct from always; inva- ■ 
riably. 

Allycholy. A queer corruption of melancholy. 

Alonson. A German ; a native of Allemania, the appellation 
of Germany when it formed a part of the ancient Roman 
empire. It is still called Allemagne by the French. 

Alms-drink. The name that was given to the remainder of 
the wine that had been left untouched at a banquet, and 
intended for the poor. In modern times waiters at 
taverns, and other domestics, do not disdain to appro- 
priate the " droppings." 

Amaimon. One of Satan's deputies who has a special charge 
in Acheron. 

Amaze. Alarm ; confound ; dismay. 

Amazonian chin. A chin as smooth as a woman's. 

Amerce. To fine. 

Ames-ace. Two aces — the lowest throw of a pair of dice. 

Amiss. Misfortune ; misshapen ; disaster. 

Amort. (Fr.) Half dead; dejected. 



Amurath. Turkish history records that the Emperor Amu- 
rath, who was the second son of his father, and there- 
fore .not the legitimate heir to the throne, invited all his 
brothers to a banquet on his accession and caused them 
to be strangled. 

An. Used in the sense of "if;" "an'twere" — as if it were. 

Anchises. The father of iEneas. The instance of filial affec- 
tion referred to by Cassius {Julius Ccesar) is mentioned 
by Homer. 

Anchor. Anchoret or anchorite ; a hermit ; from the Greek 
root chores — "I retire." 

Ancient. A corruption of enseigne, (Fr.;) the standard-bearer 
of a regiment or a commander-in-chief. The title " en- 
sign" is also given to the standard itself. Cassius 
{Julius Ccesar) uses it in both senses in the same 
speech : 9 

' ' This ensign here of mine was turning back, 
I slew the villain and did take it from him." 

Andrew. The ship of the name to which allusion is made in 
the Merchant of Venice was probably the Andrea, a 
large Genoese vessel of which Shakespeare may have 
heard; or he may have referred -to a Scotch vessel, so 
called in compliment to James I, St. Andrew being the 
tutelar saint of Scotland. 

Angel. A gold coin (originally French) current in England 
until the reign of Charles I. It bore the figure of an 
Angel* upon the obverse, because the complimentary re- 
mark of the Romish missionary who was struck with the 
beauty of the Anglo-Saxon children identified the ap- 
pearance of the English with the traditional winged 
messengers of the Supreme Deity. JVon Angli sed An- 
gell was the memorable phrase of the pious monk who 
went to England to proselytize the disciples of the 
heathen Druids. 
The pecuniary value of the angel (the coin) varied with the 
financial and commercial condition of successive reigns. 
It was sometimes worth 6s. 8d., sometimes 10s. In the 
time of Henry IV it must have fallen in exchangeable 
value, for it would only purchase a small bottle of sack. 

* St. Michael piercing the dragon also appears on some of the coins. 



6 

" This bottle makes an angel," says Bardolph when Fal- 
staff throws a bottle, as if it were a pistol, to his hench- 
man that it might be filled with sack. 

Annoy. Annoyance. 

Anointed. "Deputies of Heaven." Kings were formerly 
anointed at their coronation and were called the " depu- 
ties of Heaven " from the doctrine of " Divine right " 
taught in the days of absolutism. (See Cardinal Pan- 
dulph, King John.) Richard III calls himself the 
"Lord's anointed." 

Anon. Presently ; immediately ; " coming " is the reply of a 
waiter at a hotel. 

Anothek. Simply " the other." 

Anthkopophagi. Literally, eaters of human flesh ; cannibals. 
By "the other people," whom Othello mentions as wear- 
ing " their heads beneath their shoulders," Shakespeare 
probably intended to describe the mountaineers whose 
necks are so enlarged by swellings, (goitres,) from the 
use of molten snow, that the head is borne down by the 
weight below the level of the shoulders. 

Antiates. The people of Antium, the capital of the Volsce, 
(Co?'iolanus.) 

Antic. The fool in old farces ; also a piece of senile antiquity, 
as " Old Father Antic, the law." {Henry IV, first part.) 

Antics. Puppets. 

Antiopa, or Antiope. Another name for Hippolyta, the Queen 
of the Amazons, {Midsummer Nights Dream.) 

Antipodes. The idea entertained by Hermia, {Midsummer 
Nights Dream,) that the moon would vex the sun by 
getting into the centre of the earth, is an ingenious 
poetic flight. The effect of such a catastrophe in crea- 
tion (admitting its possibility) was never dreamt of be- 
fore. Lorenzo {Merchant of Venice) correctly inter- 
prets the relative positions of the inhabitants of the 
earth's surface. 

Antique. Amongst moderns the term implies the classical 
epochs of Greece and Rome, but when it is used by a 
Greek (as Theseus — Midsummer Nights Dream) it 
may be taken in the sense of " antic " — farcical. 

Antoniad. Cleopatra's flag-ship, named after Marc Antony. 



Antres. Deep caverns. 

Appaeent. Evidently ; obvious ; clear to the apprehension. 

Appeach. To impeach. 

Appeal. Charge; accuse. 

Appeaeed. Shown. 

Appeeil. Peril ; place in danger. 

Appertainment. Dignities ; prerogatives. 

Apple john. A shrivelled apple that will keep sweet for two 
years. 

Appointment. Preparation. 

Appeehension. Sarcasm. 

Apprehensive. Quick of comprehension. 

Appeobation. Novitiate ; applicable to a lady taking the veil ; 
also, proof ; establishing by proof. 

Appeopeiation. Addition or embossment of one's own good 
parts. 

Appeove. To prove or support an assertion. 

Appeovees. A jury ; judges. 

Apeicoces. Apricots. 

Apeil day. An old term, indicating the youth of man. 

Apron men. Mechanics. 

Apt. Prepared ; to the purpose ; likely. 

Aqua vit^. Literally, the water of life, but applied, ironi- 
cally, to strong waters, *. e., alcoholic liquids. 

Aeabian bied. Certain commentators have supposed the Phoe- 
nix to be referred to in praise of Marc Antony. The 
parallel is not obvious. Phoenix is the name of the palm 
tree, which, being burnt to the ground, rises again from 
its own ashes. A bird was imagined to have the same 
property, and is hence called the Phoenix. Marc An- 
tony did not rise after Cleopatra had ruined him. 

Aech. A chief. The word is in great use as an affix or prefix 
to the official titles of magnates, as archbishop, arch- 
angel, monarch, Tetrarch, &c. [In the three last words 
arch is pronounced ark.~\ 

Aeden. (See As You Liee It.) 

Aedoue of the liver. The seat of the passions according 
to antique physiology. 

Abgiebs. The old name of Algiers. 

Abgel, Argal, or Argo. A corruption of ergo, (Lat.,) therefore. 



Argosy, Argosies. The Argo, the ship which is fabled to have 
carried Jason and his comrades to Colchos, in search of 
the fleece, doubtless suggested to the Venetians this 
name for certain of their vessels which sailed to India ; 
but it is somewhere stated that the vessels were called 
Ragosies, because built at Ragusa. Shakespeare proba- 
bly adopted the earlier interpretation, as it helped to 
carry out the idea of Portia's suitors going in search of 
her wealth and herself. 

Argument. Plot of a play ; summary of an epic poem ; sub- 
ject of mirth. 

Ariachne. The passage which contains this word was prob- 
ably written Arachne by Shakespeare, as the allusion to 
the "woof" suggests the spider's web. Arachnida is 
the technical term for certain invertebrate insects of a 
carnivorous character. 

Ariadne. The mythological tale of the unfortunate daughter 
of Minos of Crete has formed the subject of several 
plays and poems. 

Ariel. A creature of the air ; the slave of Prosper 'o, ( Tem- 
pest.) 

Armed staves. Lances. 

Arm girt. Clothed in armor. 

Armigero. Formally applied to men who wore armor. Justice 
Shallow employs the term to define his position as a 
squire or esquire. Armiger is the correct word. 

Aroint. Avaunt! vanish! 

Arras. Hangings of tapestry which were made at Arras, in 
France, and used to cover the bareness of walls before 
papering and pictures came in as substitutes." Some 
remnants of tapestry hangings are still to be found in 
old palaces in England, France, and Germany as curious 
specimens of an extinct art. 

Art. An artificial style ; theory ; acquired knowledge. 

Arthur's bosom. A mistake of Mrs. Quickly's for Abraham's 
bosom. 

Arthur's show. A convention of toxopholites at Mile-end 
Green, near London. They called themselves Knights 
of King Arthur's Round Table. 

Articulate, v. To treat with, *. e., enter into treaties, politi- 
cal or military ; to proclaim in public. 



9 

Artificial gods. Helena {Midsummer JVighfs Dream) is here 
referring to Penelope's labors on a piece of tapestry. 

Artless jealousy. Undisguised suspicions. 

As. "As if." 

Ascenius. The son of iEneas. 

Asher house " Esher " House. The residence of the Bishop 
of Winchester, cetat Henry VIII. 

Aside. The bracketed word which, in the printed plays, so 
often occurs in dialogues, is an instruction to the actor 
to deliver his words in a low tone, with head inverted, 
that the interlocutor may not be supposed to hear what 
is imparted to the audience alone. 

Ascapart. A giant slain by Sir Bevis. 

Ask. Demand; require. "My business asketh haste." 

Asperse, v. To sprinkle or disperse. 

Aspis. An asp or serpent. 

Assail. To address the ear. 

Assay, v. To essay ; endeavor to make assay. 

Assineco. A little ass ; a foal. 

Assinego. A donkey. 

Asquint. Cross-eyed ; sinister. 

Assubjugate. To debase oneself. 

Astonished. Stunned. 

Astringer. A falconer, who keeps a goshawk. 

As you like it. The origin of this play has been ascribed to 
Chaucer's " Gamelyn ;" but there is little doubt that 
Shakespeare owed some part of it to "Rosalind, Eu- 
phue's Golden Legacy" by Thomas Lodge. The scene, 
or supposed locality of the original, is France, and the 
period when the government of the country was vested 
in sundry independent dukedoms, owing suzerainete to 
the monarch. Some commentators, with the French lo- 
cale in their heads, have asserted that the forest of Ar- 
den was in the vicinity of Ardennes, one of the depart- 
ments, and gave the name to the actual department. 
But Mr. Green, in his elaborate and valuable work, " The 
Making of England" has shown that the Arden of 
Shakespeare's play was more probably part of a dense 
woodland which stretched away from modern Kugby to 
Evesham, to the bounds of Cannock Chase, now called 



10 

"Woodend," and extended from the valley of the Sev- 
ern to the limits of Leicestershire. Mr. Green says : 
" This was Arden, the forest into whose depths Shakes- 
peare could stray, centuries later, from his childhood's 
home at Stratford, and in whose glades his fancy placed 
the scene of one of his loveliest dramas. But in Shakes- 
peare's day its moss was broken everywhere by the clear- 
ings of the Warwickshire men ; towns were planted in 
the very heart of the woodlands, and the miner had 
thinned its clumps with his forges." The identity of 
Arden with the French or English locality is therefore 
matter of conjecture. 

Atalanta. Mythology assigns to the lady a fair pair of heels 
and likewise severe chastity. The latter is the " better 
part" attributed to Rosalind, (As You Like It.) 

Ate. The goddess of discord, who would seem to have been 
relegated to the infernal regions ; though Jupiter, accord- 
ing to the heathen idea, only banished her to the earth, 
where she raised commotions among men. 

Atomie. The smallest atom. 

At once. Once for all. 

Atone. Agree ; be reconciled ; " at one " with a person or 
his argument. 

Atropos. One of the Fates. 

Attaint. Weariness. 

Attasked. Taken to task ; reproved. 

Attended. Expected ; waited for. 

Attorneys. Agents ? a class of lawyers. In England they 
are a grade below the barristers, and prepare cases for 
them, and are now generally called solicitors. 

Attorneys general. Legal and general representatives ; coun- 
sel for the Crown. 

Attribute. Merit or quality ascribed to a person or object. 

Audit. Hearing ; account. 

Augre. An awl or gimlet. 

Aunts. A cant word for truths. 

Aurora. A poetical name for the dawn of day. Mythologi- 
cally, "the mother of the winds and the stars," who fly 
at her approach from the east, heralding the sun. 

Avaunt. Away! Vanish! also dismissal. "Give him the 
avaunt," i. e., send him about his business. 



11 

Ave. (Lat.) Hail! 

Ave Maria. Hail, Mary ! An invocation to the Virgin by the 
Roman Catholics, who pray to her as the mediatrix be- 
tween man and the grace of Heaven. 

Avoid. Depart ! go hence ! 

Awake. Arouse thee ! 

Away with. To like or dislike a person. " I cannot away 
with him.'' Likewise a command to remove an offender 
to prison. 

Awe. Law ; lawful authority. 

Aweary. Tired ; fatigued. 

Ayveful. Rightful ; lawful ; worshipful. 

Aweless. Unreverenced ; not feared. 

Axe. Hangmen were supplied with this implement of de- 
struction, that it might be used, if necessary, at execu- 
tions in lieu of a rope. 

Ay. Yes ! Pronounced "I," and therefore made the subject 
of puns, I doing duty for Ay. 

Aye. Forever. 

Ay me. A simple interjection, like "heigh ho !" 

Baccare, in. Stand back ! " Give place !" 

Backwards, ad. The past state. 

Bacon fed. Falstaff contemptuously terms the men he is, 
after his manner, assisting to rob, "bacon fed knaves." 
Bacon seems to have been the food of menials in England 
time out of mind. Langland, who wrote " Piers' Plow- 
man," (before Chaucer appeared,) has this line : 
" And as a bondraan of his bacon, his beard was bedrivelled." 

Badge, n., (of faith.) Taken in the ordinary sense, a proof or 
mark of servitude. 

Baffle, v. To embarrass ; defeat ; treat with ignominy ; abuse. 

Bairn, n. Brushwood ; a child. 

Baked meats, n. A dish at funeral feasts. 

Balance, n. A measure ; scales. 

Baldrick, n. A belt crossing the chest from the shoulder to 
the waist. 

Bale, ad. Misery ; calamity ; synonymous also with bane ; 
harm ; mischief. 



12 

Balk, v. To pile up. 

Ballase, n. Ballast. 

Ballow. A cudgel. 

Balm, n. The oil of consecration. Used also in anointing a 
king at his coronation. 

Ban, n. Curse ; malediction ; v., to outlaw. 

Banbuey. A town in Oxfordshire celebrated for cheeses and 
pies. 

Band. Synonymous with bond. 

Ban-dog. Band-dog ; chained up ; banded ; n., a watch-dog, 
formerly an "institution" in English villages. 

Bandy, v. To carry ; reply ; retort. 

Bank, v. To sail between the banks of a river. 

Banked, ad. Enclosed. 

Bak, n. A court of law ; a barrier ; a sign in heraldry. 

Bakabbas, n. Shylock {Merchant of Venice) can find no bet- 
ter illustration of his contempt for a Christian than by 
expressing his wish that his daughter had married one 
of the tribe of the " impenitent thief " crucified at the 
same time with the Saviour. 

Babbaky hen, n. A bird from the North of Africa. From 
several allusions in Shakespeare it would seem that there 
was a considerable importation of poultry from that 
region. The Barbary hen was accustomed to ruffle its 
plumage when excited or alarmed. From its prolific 
nature it is referred to in Othello as "a Guinea hen." 

Babba^on. The- appellation of an imaginary fiend. 

Baebe. A species of veil. 

Baebed, ad. Covered with armor. Horses, in - the middle 
ages, were clothed in armor if they went to the battle- 
field. Spikes, protective and offensive, protruded from 
their chest and forehead. 

Baeber monger. Habitual beard shaving in the fifteenth and 
sixteenth centuries was one of the signs of coxcombry. 
The man who resorted to a barber to have his chin 
" reaped " was stigmatized with this appellation. 

Baek, v. To strip the bark of a tree from the trunk. 

Baem. Yeast; froth; v., a necessary stage in the process of 
brewing or baking. 

Baenacle. The clakes or tree goose; also a shell-fish. 



Baens. To keep in a barn. 

Baeeen. Empty ; low ; ignorant ; sterile ; bare. 

Base. Mean ; bad ; degraded ; also, a rustic game ; the coun- 
try base — orignally prisoners' base — now base ball ; 
v., to sound a deep note ; to challenge. 

Base couet, (basse coar, Fr.) The lower court of a castle or 
superior domicile. 

Bases. A kind of embroidered mantle or loose breeches, worn 
on horseback. 

Basilisk. A cannon decorated with objects in cast-iron re- 
sembling- dragons and the fabled cockatrice — a bird 
whose eyes were supposed to possess the power of 
striking one dead at a single glance. The basiliscus 
mitratus of natural history is a revolting object; it is 
10 inches in length, with a tail of 20 inches. 

Basilisco-like. Resembling a boastful knight of the name in 
an old drama. 

Basta. Enough, (Span, and Ital.) 

Bastaed. It would appear from the application of this term 
to Falconbridge (King John) and the Orleans noble- 
man (Henry VI) that it was not considered an offen- 
sive appellation when a low standard of morality pre- 
vailed. 

Bastinado. A severe punishment inflicted by beating on the 
soles of the feet of a prostrate culprit. It is common 
in Spain, Persia, Turkey, and China. 

Bate, n. Strife; v., to dwindle; fall away; to nutter the 
feathers. 

Bated. Excepted. 

Bat-fowling. Netting birds at night. 

Batlet. A small, flat, wooden implement used by laundresses 
in washing linen. 

Battalia. A large body of soldiers ; an army. 

Batten. To graze; to eat of inferior food. "Go batten on 
cold bits." 

Battle, v. To fight ; n., a force ; a division of an army ; a 
fight. 

Batty, ad. Like a bat. 

Bauble- A trifle ; a fool's baton with a comical head, having 
a cap and bells at one end. 



14 

Bavin. A. fire that is soon extinguished. 

Bawcock. A fine bird, (from the French beau coque;) a term 
expressive of admiration. 

Bay, v. To howl at ; rebuke ; check ; surround. To stand 
" at bay " is to confront a foe, when escape is hopeless, 
and a deadly combat imminent. As a noun, the word 
signifies the principal beam in a house. 

Bay cuetal. A bay horse with a shortened (or docked) tail. 

Baynard's castle. An edifice which stood in Thames street, 
London, near the river Thames. 

Bead. An old Saxon word, signifying "prayer." In Roman 
Catholic countries beads are perforated and strung to- 
gether, the better to enable the pious persons who use 
them to count the number of times in succession they 
utter a "Pater Noster " or an "Ave Maria." 

Beadsmen. Pious men who prayed for the well-being and 
eternal beatitude of the person or persons by whom they 
were succored or entertained. They resembled, in that 
respect, the fakirs (wandering mendicants) of India. 
Those who were in good condition were required to keep 
a bow and arrows of the yew tree in their abodes for 
the public service on emergencies. 

Beadle. Vide Blue Bottle Rogue ; also, an executioner. 

Beak. The prow or forepart of a ship. 

Beam. The staff of a lance. 

Bear, n. The "burning bear," a name of the Pleiades, or 
"Charles' Wain." To have a feeling of toleration to- 
wards a person. "Bear with me." 

Bear-head. A keeper of bears ; a common profession when 
bear-baiting and bear-dancing were popular entertain- 
ments. 

Bear in hand. An idiomatic form of intimating control ; keep 
in suspense ; keep in good humor ; delude with hopes. 
" Bear a hand " is a nautical phrase for " lend your aid." 

Bears. In calling Lord Warwick's family by this name, ref- 
erence is had to the crest of the Nevilles, which was a 
bear. 

Beard, v. To defy ; n., a stage property for the use of a 
player. " WTiat beard shall I play it in?" asks Bottom, 
the weaver, when cast for the part of Pyramxis. 



15 

Bearing. Demeanor. 

Bearing cloth. The mantle with which an infant was gener- 
ally covered when taken to a church to be baptized. 

Bear-a-brain. To resemble another exactly. 

Beat-in falconry. To nutter ; desire ; hunt for. 

Beaver. A part of the ancient helmet moving on a swivel so 
that it could be raised in front, exposing the face and 
assisting the sight, or lowered to cover and protect the 
features in a combat or tourney. It was generally cross- 
barred or loopholed, so that it could be seen through by 
the wearer, and enabled him to breathe. The helmets 
of the middle ages had longitudinal apertures across 
the mouth. Walter Scott describes certain warriors as 
" drinking red wine through their helmets barred." 

Beck. A salutation. " Nods and becks," &c.-^— Milton. 

Becomed, ad. Modest ; prudent. 

Bedded, ad. Matted ; flattened ; flaked. 

Bedfellow. Intimate friend ; companion ; wife. 

Bedward. Going to bed. 

Bed of ware. A remarkably large bed originally forming an 
article of household furniture in the Mansion House at 
Ware, in Hertfordshire. It was moved thence to an inn 
in Ware, and was at a later period sold by auction, falling 
ultimately into the possession of Charles Dickens, the 
author. It was considered large in the 16th century, 
wherefore Shakespeare puts an allusion to it into the 
mouth of Sir Toby Belch, {Twelfth Night,) The date 
of its construction was marked on a part of the wood, 
"1463," and it was elaborately carved. The posts, of 
which there were four, represented urns ; they were of 
delicate workmanship ; equally so was the tester, which 
exhibited carved work of red and white roses emble- 
matic of the union of the houses of York and Lancaster. 

Bedlam. Corruption of Bethlehem, the name of a hospital for 
lunatics in London,f ounded early in the thirteenth century. 

Beef-witted. This compound occurs twice in Shakespeare, 
but it was founded on a wrong inference. No nations 
are more strong-witted (strong-minded) than the Eng- 
lish and the American, the greatest eaters of beef among 
civilized nations. 



16 

Beetle. To overhang, as of a rock or projecting summit of 
a mountain. 

Beetle-browed. Wealing a frowning aspect. The word is 
evidently derived from its precursor. (See, also, " Three 
man Beetle.") 

Beggar's book. A proverbial phrase for learning. 

Begrime. Blacken — render filthy and offensive. 

Beguile. Deceive ; make time pass agreeably. 

Behests. Commands. 

Beholding, ad. Under an obligation. 

Behowl. To howl at. 

Being. Abode. 

Belch up. To cast up from the sea. 

Beldame. Derived from a French complimentaiy term, {belle 
dame — beautiful lady.) It came to be applied, in its 
Anglicized and corrupt form, to hags and witches. (See 
Macbeth, King John, &c.) 

Beleed. Becalmed. 

Belike. Probably ; " it seems that ;" perhaps. 

Bell, book, and candle. Implying excommunication. In the 
Papal ceremony a bell was tolled, some passages read 
from a holy book, and three candles extinguished. 

Belongings. Endowments ; all that pertains to an individual 
in property and family. 

Bemete. Bemeasured. . 

Bemoiled. Covered with mire ; disgraced. 

Bend. To move in a given direction. 

Bends. Bows ; reverential curtesies. 

Benedictte. (Lat.) Be you blessed ! 

Benevolences. Taxes under an agreeable and charitable name ; 
compulsory exactions disguised as voluntary actions. 

Benumbed. Rendered insensible ; inflexible. 

Ben venuto. (Ital.) Welcome! 

Bergomask- A rustic dance in Bergomisco, a Venetian prov- 
ince. 

Bermoothes. The old appellation for the cluster of islands 
now called Bermuda. The name is derived from Ber- 
mudez, the Spanish navigator, by whom they were dis- 
covered. 



IT 

Beshrew. A phrase implying self-condemnation if the condi- 
tion of certain assertions be not fulfilled. "Beshrew 
me but I love her heartily'' is equivalent to "Ma3 r I 
suffer damage if I do not." "Upon my word," "upon 
my honor," are now in use with the same effect. The 
vocabulary of such protestations is extensive. 

Besmirch. To render foul or dirty. 

Besort. Attention ; suitableness ; companionship. 

Best. Bravest. 

Bestel. Poor condition. 

Bestow. Put away ; deposit ; hide ; treat handsomely. 

Bestowing. Control. 

Bestraught. Distracted. 

Bestride. The act of standing across an object. It was a 
chivalrous custom "once upon a time" to bestride a 
prostrate foe or friend killed in action. Falstaff expects 
Prince Hal to bestride him. The Colossus at Bhodes 
bestrode the channel, and the attitude of apparent sov- 
ereignty in that lofty statue has furnished a comparison, 
in more than one instance, to a despotic dominance. 
Cassius speaks of Ccesar (Julius Ccesar) as bestriding 
" the narrow world like a Colossus." 

Beteem. Allow; permit; give; pour out; suffer. 

Betid. Passed away. 

Bettering. Making one thing appear better than another. 

Bevis. Traditionally, a knight of Southampton who overcame 
the giant Ascapart. 

Bewitched. Supposed to be under a witch's influence ; a 
common interpretation of eccentric conduct. In former 
days — even less than a century ago — the assumption 
that a person was bewitched, too often formed an excuse 
for the maltreatment of an old woman or presumed 
sorceress. 

Bewrayed. Betrayed. 

Bezonian. A poor wretch. From the Italian bisogna — want, 
need — or the French besoin, with the same signification. 
The question propounded by Pistol in Henry JV, sec- 
ond part, is from an old play current in Shakespeare's 
time. 

2 



18 

Bias. A weight placed on one part of a bowl to incline it in 
a given direction. That part of the bowl was called 
"the eye." The Chinese use the bias in one of their 
most popular toys. 

Bias-cheek. Swelling out. 

Bid. To invite. 

Bid-the-base. To challenge. 

Bifold. Twofold. 

Biggin. A corruption of Beguine — a head-band of coarse 
cloth worn by the nuns of that Order. 

Bilbekky. The whortleberry. 

Bilboa. A town in Spain, on the northern coast, where cul- 
prits worked on sea or land in fetters — whence called 
Bilboes. 

Bin, v. " Is." The word occurs in the beautiful song in 
Cymbeline : 

" Hark ! hark ! the lark at Heaven's gate sings, 
And Phoebus 'gins arise, 

s|c :£ ?le $ $ 

With everything that pretty bin ; 
My lady sweet, arise." 

Bibnam wood. Not many years since there still stood the 
trunk of an old oak on the site of the wood in Scotland 
made famous in Shakespeare's Macbeth. Where Shakes- 
peare got the idea of an army moving like a forest, be- 
cause the soldiers carried boughs and branches of the 
trees, is not traceable. There is a passage, however, 
in the Gospel according to St. Mark, which may have 
suggested the notion : The blind man says, (v. 24, chap, 
viii,) "I see men as trees walking." 

Bisson. Blind. 

Bit. "A half-checked bit " — an imperfect article in a horse's 
gear. In the speech of JBiondello, (Taming of the 
Shrew,) in which the word occurs, a description is given 
of Petruchids wedding attire, which corresponds exactly 
with the words of the old ballad of "Abraham Bradley." 

Bite. Cut with a sword. 

Bite my thumb. The lower order of Italians had, and may 
still have, a practice of indicating their hostility to one 
another by putting the end of the right thumb between 
the teeth and jerking it out at their adversary. 



19 

Black Monday. The name given to Easter Monday, 1350, an 
exceptionally dark, misty, and cold day in England. 
The chronicles say that many persons were killed by 
the phenomenal severity of the temperature. 

Blacks. O'er dyed, alluding to cloths. 

Blames. Faults. 

Blank. The white spot in a target commonly called "the 
bull's eye ;" also, signatures that might be attached 
to documents avowing a responsibility. Richard II 
adopted this scheme when he wanted money. 

Blanks. Blenches ; blanches ; turns white. 

Blank and level, v. Mark and aim; an old term in military 
gunnery. 

Blaze. To make public. 

Blazon. "Eternal blazon." The Ghost, in Hamlet, is pre- 
sumed to have seen in the nether world (purgatory) 
sights of a terrible character, similar to those described 
in the Inferno of Dante ; and it is those eternal " secrets 
of the prison house " to which the spectre refers as cal- 
culated, in description, to freeze the blood of the listener. 

Blazoney. The objects forming the shield of a coat of arms. 

Bleak, v. To deceive. 

Bleeding rings. The sockets of gouged eyes, (ITing Lear.) 

Blench. To turn pale ; become blanch, (white ;) to fly off ; 
shift ; change. 

Blent. Blended. 

Blind worm. The ccecilia, or slow worm. 

Blood, ad. Ancestry ; relationship ; consanguinity. " The 
part I had in Gloster's blood " {Richard II) means the 
degree of family relationship in which I stood towards 
him. Also, passion; impulse; feeling. "Our bloods 
no more obey the heavens " ( Cymbeline) is tantamount 
to the expression there is no sympathy between us and 
Nature. " My blood has been too cold and temperate " 
is Henry IV ] s avowal of a toleration of indignity. " In 
blood," applicable to a deer in good condition. 
Blood-boltered. Smeared with blood. 
Bloody flag. A signal of war. 

Blown. Puffed up ; swollen ; a grateful emotion. " This. 
generosity blows my heart." 



20 

Blows. Swells ; n., Blue Caps, (the Scotch.) 

Blue bottle eogue. An old nickname for a parish officer of 
police. The dress of that functionary of the Protestant 
Church, the beadle, is still a blue-cloth gown, or long 
coat, but he has ceased to be a public executioner. His 
duties are confined to the preservation of order during 
the church service, and the principal objects of the bea- 
dle's wrath are the troublesome boys of a village. 

Blue caps, or blue bonnets. The national Scottish head- 
dress. 

Blunderbuss. A gun with a barrel of large calibre, expand- 
ing at the muzzle to the dimensions of a trumpet bell, 
that the shot may be more widely scattered. 

Blunt. Stupid ; insensible. 

Blurt. An expression of contempt. 

Boar's head. The crest of the House of York. As a com- 
pliment to the dominant family, it was employed as the 
sign of a small inn in Eastcheap. London, to which 
Prince Henry and his companions were accustomed (see 
Henry IV) to resort. 

Bob. To filch ; swindle. 

Bodge. To move ; retreat. From bouger, Fr. 

Bodged. Botched ; clumsily performed ; boggled. 

Bodkin. A poniard. 

Bohemia. Shakespeare has made the grand mistake of plac- 
ing this country on the sea-shore of Italy. 

Boitier vert. (Fr.) A green box. 

Bolingbroke. The birthplace of Henry Plantagenet, after- 
wards Henry IV. He bears the title of " Earl Boling- 
broke " in Richard II 

Bolt, v. To sift ; thresh ; winnow ; refine ; n., a short, thick 
arrow, used in archery with the cross-bow. A thunder- 
bolt, as applicable to a destructive flash of lightning. 
Aerolites w T ere supposed, by the heathen Greeks, to be 
fragments of the bolts shot by Jove as the expression 
of his displeasure. 

Bolts. Fastenings. When they are said to be " correspon- 
sive and fulfilling," they fit in their sockets. 

Bolter. One who smears, daubs, &c. 

Bolting hutch. The receptacle for sifted meal. 



21 

Bolting cloth. The sieve used for separating flour from 
bran. 

Bombard, v. To throw bombshells into a town, encampment, 
or ship for destructive purposes ; n., a huge barrel or 
leather bottle for beer or wine. 

Bombast. The cotton wadding of a dress. 

Bona roba. A strumpet ; a fine wench. 

Bona terra, mala gens. (Lat.) Good land, but bad people. 

Bond. Bounden duty. 

Bonnet, n. A covering for the head — the hat of the period. 
The removal of the bonnet from the head has for a long 
period been an act of courtesy and reverence in Euro- 
pean countries and their colonies. The obsequiousness 
of the courtier, Osrie, (ITamlet,) is illustrated in his 
persistent refusal to put his bonnet to its " right uses " 
when urged to do so by the Prince Osrie s readiness 
to admit that it is hot or cold, according to Hamlets 
varied assertion, is akin to the sycophancy of Polonius, 
who can see a weasel or a whale in the clouds, just as 
Samlet whimsically suggests. The verb " to bonnet " 
means "to salute," and it was one of the privileges ac- 
corded to noblemen who had achieved distinction that 
they were permitted to stand " unbonnetted " in the 
presence of the monarch. 

Bonny, or Bonnie. Pretty. A Scotticism. 

Bonos dies. Good days ! 

Book. A contract. 

Boot. Profit ; something extra. 

Bootless. Useless. 

Boots. An instrument for squeezing the leg ; an ingenious 
piece of torture, used, like the rack, as part of the peine 
forte et dure, employed to extort confession from a 
prisoner suspected of a crime, or supposed to have un- 
discovered accomplices. The word " boots " was some- 
times used for " bootless." It likewise signified a rustic, 
humorous punishment at harvest time. 

Bore. Demeaned. 

Bores. Stabs. 

Bosky. Bushy ; covered with trees and shrubs. 



22 

Bosom-wish. Heart's desire. " Milk white bosom " is an al- 
lusion to the little pockets which ladies in the 15th and 
16th centuries wore in the upper part of a dress. 

Boss'd. Embossed. 

Botch. A patch. 

Bots. Worms in a horse. 

Bottled-spidee. Bloated. 

Bottle of hay. A measure which contained from two to five 
pounds weight of hay ; a sufficiency for a horse's meal. 
It is in reference to this measure that the difficulty of 
finding a needle in the hay is suggested. " Pottle " has 
the same meaning as "bottle" in this sense. 

Bottom. The cylindrical basis of a skein or spool of thread 
made by weavers. Hence, the just application of the 
name to the pompous artificer in A 31idsummer Night's 
Dream. In Act IV, Scene I, Bottom says he has a 
"reasonable good ear in music." The weavers in the 
16th century were mostly Calvinists, addicted to " psalm 
singing." Falstaff {Henry IV) refers to their capa- 
bility in that respect — "I would I were a weaver; I 
could sing psalms." 

Bottoms. A nautical term for ships. A written acknowledg- 
ment for a loan of money on the security or mortgage 
of a ship is called " a bottomry bond." 

Bourne. A boundary ; a limit ; a rivulet. When applied to 
the latter, in Scotland or the north of England, it is 
called a bum. A " chalky-bourne " describes the white 
cliffs of old England. 

Bow, n. One of Cupid's weapons which discharged an arrow 
as effectively as that of a Turk or Tartar ; v., a reveren- 
tial act ; n., as applied to an ox, a yoke. 

Bowstrings. "Hold or cut bowstrings " was probably a piece 
of slang, and meant: "If you cannot continue to play or 
shoot, you had better cut the strings of your fiddle or 
your bow." 

Box. A coffin. The word is used in that sense by Hamlet 
in the graveyard. 

Boy queller. A murderer of boj^s. 

Brabbler, A brawler; a hound that gives tongue inoppor- 
tunely. 



23 

Brabe. An expression of scorn. 

Brace. Armor for the arm ; a style of defence. 

Brach. A dog used in hunting. 

Brack. To salt. 

Braggardism. Excess of praise ; boastfulness. 

Braid. Crafty ; deceitful. 

Brain, v. Break a design, or a man's head. 

Brains-flow. Tears. 

Brake. A thicket ; a rough brake ; a thicket of thorns. " The 
brake of vice" was a species of rack used for the torture 
of prisoners who would neither confess nor deny a 
crime, nor implicate others. 

Brands. A part of the andirons which supported the logs in 
a fireplace. 

Brass. " To live in brass " is to have the name, rank, and 
good qualities of a deceased individual engraved in 
brass and set into the marble which forms the tomb- 
stone or mural memorial. 

Brave. To defy ; to bully. 

Bravely. Gallantly ; gaily ; splendidly ; proudly. 

Bravery. Finery. 

Brave-bears. An allusion to the supporters of the coat-of- 
arms of the Earl of Warwick. 

Brawl. A species of stately dance borrowed from the French. 

Brawn. The arm ; a coarse appellation for a woman. 

Break, v. To broach or introduce a subject in conversation ; 
also, to violate a compact or obligation. The failure to 
meet an engagement at a given date was called " break- 
ing the day.'' 

Break with. To communicate with a person ; confide in him. 

Break up. Break open. 

Breast- voice. The voce de petto, (Ital.,) or voice from the 
chest ; a distinguishing feature in musical vocalization. 

Breath, v. To exercise ; (also, see Suffrage.) 

Breathed. Inured by constant practice. 

Brecknock. In Wales — the locality of the castle of the Duke 
of Buckingham, (cetat Richard III.) 

Breeched. Foully sheathed ; mired ; whipped. 

Breeching school boy. Liable to be breeched. 

Breedbate, or breed debate. The cause of a quarrel. 



24 

Breeding minds. Men of evil conceptions. 

Brentford. An old town, a few miles from London, where 
once abode an ancient female fortune-teller who kept an 
inn. 

Bretagne Richmond. After the battle of Tewkesbury the Earl 
of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII, took refuge in the 
court of Francis, Duke of Bretagne. 

Brewer's bucket. A beer barrel slung on a pole or gibbet. 

Bribe-buck. A haunch of venison sent by the owner of a deer 
park as a present and mark of favor — often in the nature 
of gratitude for services to be performed. 

Bridge, v. To retreat. 

Brief. A small written note ; a programme, syllabus, or list. 

Briefly. Quickly. 

Bring in! The phrase anciently used in taverns when calling 
on the tapster or drawers for drink. 

Brize. The hornet or gadfly. 

Broach. To transfix ; place on a spit for roasting. From the 
French word broche, a spit. Also, to introduce a sub- 
ject in conversation. 

Brock. The badger. 

Brogues. Shoes, or half boots. 

Broils, ad. Heated by vociferous approbation. " He broils 
a loud applause." n. The word likewise signifies street 
quarrels. 

Broke. A pander. 

Broken music. A humorous comparison to an instrument like 
the Panspipe or " mouth organ," which resembles in the 
order of the pipes one side of the human ribs. 

Brooch. An ornament of any kind. 

Brooched. Adorned with brooches. 

Brook. "Flying at the brook." Hawking for water fowl. 

Broom groves. A collection of leguminous plants common in 
Scotland. 

Brought. Attended. 

Brown bill. A battle-axe — probably a cant name for the color 
of the handle, as " Brown Bess " became the appellation 
of a soldier's musket. 

Brownest. A disciple of a sectarian named Brown, who op- 
posed Protestantism in the sixteenth century. 



25 

Bkuited. Reported. 

Buck. The male deer ; at the first year a fawn ; dirty linen. 

Buckle. Bind ; fasten ; engage ; fight with ; to yield. 

Buckler. A shield or target of the commonest kind. 

Bucklersbury. A narrow street in the heart of the city of 
London, where chemists and druggists abode. The ref- 
erences in Romeo and Juliet, and Merry Wives of 
Windsor to simples, demonstrate the backward state 
of pharmacology in Shakespeare's time. 

Buckwashing. Washing a tubful of foul linen. 

Budger. A stirrer; from "to budge — move." 

Buff- jerkin. A jacket or doublet of undressed leather ; buff 
from boeuf, Fr. , (ox. ) It was probably used to restrain vio- 
lent prisoners or lunatics. 

Bug. In Shakespeare's time, and its antecedent, this word 
meant more than the common house-bug, the cimex lee- 
tuarius. It was abridged from "bugaboo" — an imagi- 
nary object supposed to be capable of terrifying weak- 
minded people. The word bugbear — a false alarm — 
doubtless was derived from the same source. 

Bulk, or bulk-head, or bulwark. A projection from a wall 
intended to strengthen a building ; a buttress. 

Bullet-grazing. The ricochet or rebound of a ball or bullet. 

Bully. This term, of frequent use among the lower orders of 
the middle ages, was not applied or meant offensively, 
but rather the reverse, as expressive of somebody ad- 
mired or respected. "Bully" Bottom, {Midsummer 
Night's Dream;) "Bully Rook," {Merry Wives of 
Windsor;) the " lovely Bully," {Henry J 7 ",) are exam- 
ples in point. 

Bumbard. (See Bombard.) 

Bung. A cut-purse ; thief ; also the aperture of a cask. 

Bunting. A field-bird, like the lark in form and color, but in- 
ferior as a songster. The reference to the bunting in 
"AIVs Well that Ends WelV was one of many proofs 
of Shakespeare's familiarity with British birds. 

Bur, or burr. The prickly head of a certain field-plant — the 

burdock. The word is used by Shakespeare to illustrate 

the fact of its adherence to any woollen cloth, &c, with 

which it may come into contact. Rosalind {As You 

3 



26 

Like It) refers to it as a peculiar defect in the larynx, 
impeding speech if a certain accumulated phlegm is not 
expectorated or hemmed away. There are "burs" at 
her heart which she would remove if she could hem ! and 
have him, {Orlando.) In the county of Northumberland 
the "bur" is peculiar to the vocal organs, and is called 
"the Newcastle bur," caused, doubtless, by the coal 
smoke rife in the city. 

Burgonet, or burgenet. A helmet profusely embellished with 
the features of a Gorgon, frightful to behold. 

Burton heath. A village in Warwickshire. 

Bush. Literally, (from the Saxon,) a wood or forest. In Aus- 
tralia the term is employed to distinguish the wilder- 
ness, to which lawless men betake themselves, from the 
populous towns and cities. In a more limited and 
common application, " bush " means a single shrub or 
stunted tree. In an isolated position it formed the altar 
before which " hedge priests " — a sort of unlicensed 
Christian ministers — were wont to perform the marriage 
rites among rustics, whence it came to be called a "Beg- 
gar's bush." Beaumont & Fletcher wrote a play with 
that title ; and Jaques {As You Like It) asks Touch- 
stone wiry he thinks of marrying Audrey "under a 
bush, like a beggar." Touchstones object is avowedly 
sinister — the ceremony being unlawful, the nuptial tie 
could the more easily be loosened. 
In the phrase, "Good wine needs no bush," (to which 
Rosalind alludes in the epilogue,) another rendering of 
the word is conveyed. A shrub, or bunch of grape- 
vine or ivy, suspended over the door or upon the outer 
wall of an inn, was understood to announce that the land- 
lord sold good wine. The sign is still visible in many of 
the hostelries of the public roads of France. But might 
it not be inferred from the presence of " the bush " that 
" mine host " sells bad wine % 

Buskined. The act of wearing a buskin, or short boot, an 
ancient appendage to tragic actors and athletes. Hip- 
poly ta, wife of Theseus, {Midsummer NigMs Dream,) 
is called the "buskined mistress," because, as an Ama- 
zon, her habits and pursuits were masculine. 



27 

Buss. To kiss. From the Latin basio. 

Butcher's cue. Cardinal Wolsey, to whom this epithet ap- 
plies, was the son of a butcher. 

Buttery bar. The dairy. Sir Andrew Ague-cheek (Twelfth 
Night) is invited to let his hand drink there, " for 'tis 
dry." 

Butt-shaft. An arrow wherewith to shoot at butts. 

Buttock of the night. Late hours. 

Buxom. Obedient ; gay ; brisk ; lusty ; rampant. 

Buzzard. A degenerate hawk ; a blockhead. 

By'r lady. " By our lady ;" " by'r lakin ;" by our little lady. 
A common form of adjuration in Roman Catholic times, 
when the holy mediatrix, the Virgin, was (as she still is 
among Papists) invoked in reverent fashion. 

By it. Aby it ; suffer for it. 

c 

Cable. Latitude in action. " Give him rope enough." — Pro- 
verb. 

Cacodemon. An evil spirit. 

Caddis. A species of worsted galloon ; a kind of shoddy. 

Cade. A cask of salt herrings. 

Cadent. Falling. 

Cadmus. The person who introduced Greece to letters ; the 
founder of a city ; a hunter ; the destroyer of a dragon. 
Hyppolyta, the Amazon, wife of Theseus, (Midsummer 
Night 's Dream,) says she was with Cadmus and Her- 
cules when they bayed a bear in Crete. 

Caduceus. A wand of great power carried by Mercury. 

Cadwal. Brief for Cadwallader, a Welsh name. 

Caesar. (See Julius Cjesar.) 

Cage. A prison of wood for the confinement of drunkards, 
rioters, and thieves, in villages. 

Cain colored. In some old tapestries Cain was represented 
with red hair and beard. There is nothing in Scripture 
as authority for the complexion of the first fratricide, 
but as he was red-handed it may have occurred to the 
Italian painters to give him a sanguinary hue. Or may 
not " cain " be intended for " cane," which is yellow ? 



28 

Caitiff. A term of contempt which originally meant nothing- 
more than captive, as we may see in WicklinVs transla- 
tion of the Scriptures. WicklifYe's contemporary, the 
father of English poetry, has in the " Knight's Tale :" 
" And now I am so catif and so thral that he that is my 
mortal enemy I serve him as his squier pourely." And 
Chaucer's immediate predecessor, William Langiand, au- 
thor of Piers' " Plowman's Vision," writes of " Chille 
and caytif poverte." The word very soon began to show 
the impress of an instinctive conviction that slavery 
breaks down the moral character and induces a base, 
abject disposition ; for only a hundred years after Chau- 
cer's death we find the Scotch bishop, Gawin Douglas, 
(famous for having given to the world the first metrical 
translation of any ancient classics in his translation of 
Virgil's "iEneid,") writing of the 

' ' Grete outrage to strange Enee 
In his absence thus catifely to fle." 

The etymological distinction between "captive" and 
"caitiff" is that the first is taken directly from the Latin, 
and, the latter indirectly from the same through the me- 
dium of the French chetif or Italian eattivo. 

Cake's dough. A failure, as an ill-baked cake. 

Calculate. To foretell. 

Calendar. A chronological record of human events and as- 
tronomical changes. 

Calipolis. A character in the old play of "The Battle of Al- 
cazar." 

Caliver. A hand-gun. 

Call. To visit. 

Callet. A common scold ; a beggar's wife. 

Callini custora me. A line from an old Irish (Celtic) ditty. 

Calling. Profession ; trade ; appellation. 

Calm. Qualm. 

Calphurnia. The wife of Julius Caesar. 

Calydon. By the " Prince's heart of Calydon " is meant Me- 
leager, the story of whose exploits in destroying the 
Calydonean boar is told by Homer, Ovid, and others. 

Camblet. An inferior kind of cloth. 

Cambria. The ancient (Boman) name of Wales. 



29 

Cambyses. An imaginary Persian sovereign ; the hero of a 
play by one Preston. King Cambyses is represented as 
a person of violent passion, whose eyes are, therefore, 
red. 

Camelot. A marsh in the west of England resorted to by 
geese. 

* * " The land of Cameliard was waste, 
Thick with wet grass." — Tennyson. 

It was the place where, tradition says, King Arthur held 
his court. Again referring to the locality, Tennyson 
says: 

* * " The gardens and the halls 

Of Camelot, as in the days that were." 

Can. To know. A Scotch word, usually spelt " ken." 
Canary. A dance ; likewise a wine from the Canaries. 
Candle-holders. Before chandeliers, girondoles, &c, came 

into fashion, the lights at festivals, dances, &c, were 

candles and torches, held by men. 
Candle mire. An accumulation of tallow. 
Candle wasters. People who sit up at night to carouse. 
Canis, or Canus. (Lat.) A dog. 
Cankers. Worms in a plant. The canker blossom is called 

the dog rose. 
Cannakin. A small drinking vessel. 
Canon. A law ; a rule ; a clerical functionary. 
Canonize. To bless ; pray for ; inter with religious solemnity ; 

enrol among the saints. 
Cansonet. A short song. From chansons, (Fr.,) songs. 
Canstick. Abbreviation of candle- stick. 
Cantle. A fragment ; a slice. 
Cantons. Cantos • parts of a poem. 
Canvas. To sift ; search. From the Fr. canabesser. 
Canvas climber. A sailor. 
Canvass. To beat soundly. 
Cap. The top ; the chief ; v., to salute by removing the hat. 

(See Bonnet " of time," foremost in the fashion.) 
Capable. Capacious. 

Capable impressure. Indenture ; hollow mark. 
Cap-a-pied. From head to foot. 
Caper. A motion in dancing; to "cut a caper" was a proof 

of a genteel education. 



30 

Capitol. The Capitolium of ancient Eome. Shakespeare 
has chosen this locality for the scene of the murder of 
Julius Csesar. But the deed was really done in Pom- 
pey's theatre, at the foot of the statue of Pompey. 

Capitulate. To make head against ; agreement to combine ; 
to surrender ; to form a chapter. 

Capocchia. (Ital.) A simpleton. 

Capon. Metaphorically, a love letter. 

Capriccio. (Ital.) Caprice. 

Capricious. Lascivious. 

Caps, (Monmouth.) The city of Monmouth had a good repu- 
tation as a factory of caps. 

Captious. Capacious. 

Captivate. To capture. 

Car. To plough. 

Carac, or Karrack. A Spanish galleon, so called from cara- 
coa, a barge, or carino, freight. 

Caracts. Characters. 

Carat. A weight of four ounces, used by goldsmiths and 
jewellers to estimate the value of deposits in gold. 

Carbonade, v. To cut or hack. 

Carbonado, n. A meat cutlet. 

Carbuncle, n. A stone of a ruby red ; ad., protuberant ; an- 
gry ; afflicted with scarlet sores. 

Carcanet. A necklace. 

Card, v. To "speak by the card" was to speak literally, by 
rule ; matter of fact ; n., the shipman's card, the chart 
or compass. 

Carded. Mixed; debased. 

Cardinal. Chief; pre-eminent. Some scholars derive the 
word from cardo, "hinge," because the Papacy is always 
understood to hang or turn upon the choice of the 
College of Cardinals. 

Cardinally. Carnally. 

Cardus benedictus. An herb of healing property. 

Care. Inclination. 

Careful. Anxious ; full of cares. 

Career. The meeting or crossing of lances in a tournament. 

Careire. The curvetting of a horse. 

Caret. (Lat.) " There are wanting." 



31 

Carines. Bardolph is either blundering through some at- 
tempt to apply the verb careo, "to want," or "be in 
want," or indulging in a slang phrase of the age. . 

Carl, or carlot. A boor ; a peasant. 

Carlot. A peasant. 

Carnal. Sanguinary. 

Carowses. Drinking bouts. 

Carp. To rally ; argue ; criticise ; object ; draw nice distinc- 
tions. 

Carpet-consideration. Knighted in a chamber, in contradis- 
tinction to the higher honor of being knighted on the 
field of battle. 

Carraway. A seed formerly eaten at dessert, and still used 
to flavor pastry. 

Carriage. Deportment ; conduct. 

Carried. Conducted. 

Carrion. Dead flesh converted into maggots by the sun's 
rays. 

Carry. To prevail with ; conquer ; overcome. 

Cart. A carriage. 

Carthage queen. Hermia {Midsummer JSTigMs Dream) 
swears by the funeral pile on which Dido is said to have 
stabbed herself (earning thereby the appellation of " val- 
iant woman") in her misery caused by the departure of 
iEneas. Shakespeare, in this, has adopted the popular 
anachronism which makes the Tunisian lady contempo- 
rary with iEneas, whereas scholars and poets assign her 
an antiquity 300 years greater than that of iEneas. 

Carve. Performing the office of carving at the table was a 
compliment to guests. 

Carved-bone. A cameo formed of the bones of animals or 
fishes ; an ornament of great antiquity. 

Case. The eye socket ; skin ; outward garb ; v., to cover ; con- 
ceal. "On with your visors," i. e., hide your faces. 

Case or lives. A set of lives. 
Cask. A casket. 
Casque. A helmet. 

Cassibelan. The ancient Briton named in the Roman records 
" Cassibelaunus." 



32 

Cassius. The " lean and hungry " Caius Cassius was a pecu- 
liar object of Julius Caesar's dislike and suspicion. 
Caesar rejects with disdain the supposition that he was 
liable to fear, but when he tells Marc Antony to pass to 
his right side, on the pretence that he is deaf of the left 
ear, he evidently wishes to place Marc Antony between 
himself and the risk of assassination. 

Cassock. An overcoat worn by horsemen in the nature of a 
tabard. 

Cast. To calculate ; analyze. " Cast the waters of my land — 
find her disease," {Macbeth.) To cast beyond oneself 
is to look far off. To be discharged ; superseded. 

Castilian. An offensive term of Spanish (Castile) origin, 
derived from contempt for the people of Castile, although 
it was then a kingdom. " Gastiliano vulgo " is an ex- 
pression of contempt. 

Castle. A kind of close helmet. 

Catain. A thief ; a native of Cathay, (China.) 

Cataplasm. A plaster wherewith to raise a gentle blister. 

Cates. Provision ; nice food : dainties. 

Cattings. Cat-guts ; harp strings, originally supposed to have 
been formed from the entrails of cats — whence the com- 
mon phrase " cat-gut." 

Cautel. A corner or piece of anything ; deceit. 

Cautelotts ; crafty ; ultra cautious. 

Cavalero. Cavalier ; chevalier ; knight ; " sir knight." 

Caveto. From the Latin caveo, be on your guard ; take heed. 

Caviar. The roe of the sturgeon, much eaten as a preserve 
or pickle by the people on the Russian shores of the Baltic. 
The expense of the article, when imported into other 
nations, necessarily confines its use to the higher orders 
of society ; whence Hamlet' 's remark that a good thing- 
is "caviar to the general" — the multitude. 

Cease. Decease ; to stop, or cause to be stopped. 

Censure, v. To rebuke ; blame ; condemn ; pass sentence ; 
n. 3 criticism ; opinion ; judgment ; rebuke. 

Centre. The middle of the earth, or of any circumference. 

Century. One hundred of anything — men, animals, articles, 
years. 

Cere, v. To close up with wax. 



33 

Cekements. Cere cloth ; the waxed cloths with which it was 
the custom to envelop the dead. 

Ceremonies. Auguries ; omens. 

Certes. Certainly. 

Cess. Measure ; assessment. 

Chafe. Heat; anger. 

Chaffless. Bare ; modest. 

Chafing. Rubbing. 

Chair. Throne. 

Chair days. Days of rest. 

Chaliced. Flowers, cup-formed. 

Challenge. A term in law; the option of objecting to a juror. 

Cham. Benedick {Much Ado About Nothing) speaks of a 
hair of the Cham's beard. This points to the Khan of 
Tartary. Marco Polo, Chardin, and other early travel- 
lers in the East, always wrote Cham for Khan, as that 
is the French method of spelling and pronouncing the 
title. In all likelihood Shakespeare was not aware of 
the true pronunciation of the word, as he had only seen 
it in print. 

Chamber. An old legal name for London — Camera Regis — 
literally, the "king's chamber;" also, a piece of ord- 
nance, but now confined to describe parts of a cannon. 

Chamberer. A plotter; intriguer. 

Chamberlain. A male servant at an inn who had charge of the 
chambers — a duty now confined to women; chamber- 
maids; also, a city official, but, with the prefix "Lord," 
a Court officer. 

Chameleon's dish. The minute insects which form the food 
of the lizard are so invisible to the naked eye that the 
animal is vulgarly supposed to live on air. 

Chance. Fortune. 

Changeling. A child stolen in infancy and substituted by 
another. In A Midsummer JVigMs Dream there is clearly 
a discrepancy between PucKs description of the Indian 
child possessed by Titania and that which Titania 
herself gives. Puck says it was stolen from an Indian 
king, but Titania declares that the child's mother, 
" being mortal, of the boy did die," and for her sake, for 
they were friends, the fairy queen " reared up the boy." 



34 

Channel. Kennel; gutter. 

Chanson. A song. " Pious chansons " were much in vogue 
in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Hymns, carols, 
and songs, turning upon the incidents in the New Tes- 
tament, were and are popular in all Roman Catholic 
countries. 

Chantry. A small chapel in a cathedral where the mass, or 
other service, was intoned. 

Chape. A hook by which a sword or dagger was suspended 
to the person. 

Chapeless. Devoid of a chape. 

Chapman. A broker, in fact, but the word was equally appli- 
cable to buyers and sellers on their own account. The 
glibness of the chapman's tongue was proverbial. 

Chaeact. Affected ; quality. 

Character, ad. Disposition ; temperament ; morale ; written 
description ; v., to describe. The illiterate English and 
Irish lay the accent in pronunciation on the second or 
penultimate syllable, as character. Shakespeare like- 
wise gives it in the same way as a verb. 

Charactery. Letters ; cause ; features of a troubled mind. 

Chares. Common duties ; drudgery ; patches of work. 

Charge-house. A free school. 

Charges. Condition : expense. 

Chariest. Most cautious. 

Chariness. Caution. 

Charitable. Dear; honorable, as contrasted with wicked. 
"Be thy intents wicked or charitable." (Hamlet.) 

Charles the emperor was Charles V of France, Spain, &c. 

Charles' wain. A corruption of churls' wain or wagon ; the 
name was given by rustics to the Pleiades, (in Ursa 
3Iajor,) on account of their peculiar collective form, 
resembling a team. 

Charm, v. To enchant ; entreat ; elicit. 

Charmer. A sorceress ; a female magician ; one who sold 
" charms " to fools who believed in their efficacy as a 
life preserver. 

Charming words. Words that are literally enchanted. 

Charms. Amulets ; talismans ; instruments of witchery. 

Charneco. A sweet wine. 

Charter. Privilege. 



35 

Charters. The " blank charters " mentioned in Richard II 
were a mock kind of exchequer bill with which the King's 
officers obtained money from rich people. They were 
often converted into bonds and obligations to pay certain 
sums. 

Chary. Cautious ; modest. 

Chases. Matches at tennis. 

Chaudron. The entrails of an animal. 

Cheater . Short of escheater ; an officer of the exchequer ; 
also, a thief. 

Check. Reproof ; in falconry, the refusal of a hawk to fly at 
a bird which is not its proper game. 

Cheek by jole, or jowl. A rustic form of expressing juxta- 
position. 

Cheer, v. To comfort ; welcome ; applaud ; n., good food ; 
a joyful cry; at?., approbation; encouragement; good 
looks. From the Fr. chere. 

Cherry-pit. A game played with cherry stones. 

Cherub. A child angel. Cherubim in the plural. 

Cheveril. A kid, from whose skin gloves are made. The 
word is from the French chevreuil. 

Chew. Ruminate ; reflect. 

Chewet. A bird of the daw tribe, addicted to perpetual 
chattering. 

Chide. To resound ; echo ; reprove. 

Chiding. The music of a pack of hounds in full cry after the 
game. 

Chien. (Fr.) Le chien est retourne a son propre vomissement. 
"The dog has returned to his own vomit." 

Childe. A knight ; a hero ; a youth. 

Childing. Unseasonably pregnant ; also, fruitful. 

Chill. " I shall." In using this word Edgar, in King Lear, 
is affecting to speak the patois of western England. 

Chirurgeon. A surgeon. 

Choice-spirits. Fiends who abode in the north of Europe. 

Choose. Having or not having a choice. " I cannot choose 
but weep," i. e., I cannot help weeping. 

Chop. To change. 

Chopine. A high-heeled shoe. 

Chopping. Jabbering. 



36 

Chorus. A personage of the ancient Greek and Roman drama, 
whose office it was to interpret the story of a play 
and describe the action which did not pass in view of 
the audience. He was, in fact, the connecting link of 
the incidents, a comprehension of which was necessary 
to the continuance of an interest in the representation. 
The best imitation of this agency will be found in 
Henry V and in the part of Gower, in Pericles. 

Chough. A chattering bird of the daw species. Shakespeare 
knew the birds and wild fowl, and knew them perhaps 
as a hunter as well as a poet. At least this passage 
would indicate as much : 

"As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye, 
Or rmset-pated choughs, many in sort, 
Rising and cawing at the sun's report, 
Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky." 

In calling the choughs " russet-pated," he makes the 
bill tinge the whole head, or perhaps gives the effect of 
the bird's markings when seen at a distance ; the bill is 
red, the head is black. 

Christendom. The whole realm of Christianity; also, the 
ceremony of baptism in christenings. 

Christianity. The innumerable references to Christian doc- 
trine, and the frequent insistance upon following the 
precepts of the Saviour throughout the plays treating 
of modern life, must carry conviction to the mind of 
every patient and candid reader that Shakespeare had a 
pure and devout faith in the principles inculcated in the 
New Testament. He adopted Christianity in the widest 
. acceptation of the term. Perhaps he did not belong to 
auy one of the denominations formed in his day. He 
was evidently too settled and pure in his creed — too 
catholic in his love of his species — to have embraced 
either of the narrow systems of church government 
which have rent society asunder, all over the world, 
since Luther preached and Henry VIII plundered and 
abolished the monasteries. It is quite certain he could 
not have been a Papist, or he would not have put into 
King Johns mouth the reproach and defiance addressed 
to Cardinal Pandulph when he apostrophizes John re- 
specting the suspension of Layton, chosen Archbishop 



37 

of Canterbury. Neither, as a Roman Catholic, would he 
have brought into so much prominence the vices and in- 
firmities of Wolsey and Beaufort, Archbishop Scroop, 
and the Bishop of Winchester. He would also have been 
more sparing of the reputation of the monks. He might 
have been a Protestant of the established church, for he 
makes the clergy of that denomination very respectable 
guides of men and members of society. Sir Hugh .Evans' 
Christian utterances, in the Merry Wives of Windsor, 
are perfectly orthodox, though his oddities and pedant- 
ries are unsparingly ridiculed. Sir Nathaniel is unex- 
ceptionally righteous ; but Sir Oliver Mar-text (As 
You Like It) is justly denounced as a quack. " Get 
you to church," quoth Jaques to Touchstone, " and have 
a good priest that can tell you what marriage is ; this 
fellow will but join you together as they join wainscot; 
then one of you will prove a shrunk panel, and, like green 
timber, warp, warp.' 1 Shakespeare, however, did not 
consider the clergy altogether free from hypocrisy, for 
he makes the Clown, in Twelfth Night, say : " I will dis- 
semble myself in the priestly gown, and I would I were 
the first that ever dissembled in such a gown." But true 
godliness he invariably favors. The "good divine " that 
follows his own instructions is everywhere spoken of with 
profound respect ; Christian precepts are introduced and 
inculcated on all convenient occasions, and the truths of 
revealed religion are unreservedly pronounced. Allud- 
ing to the absurd utterances of Malvolio, in Twelfth 
Night, Maria exclaims : " No Christian that means to 
be saved by believing rightly can ever believe such im- 
possible passages of grossness." The saving quality of 
faith in the Redeemer is here distinctly enunciated. But, 
indeed, the acceptance of Christian doctrine and a rev- 
erence for the actions of the Saviour of men occur in 
almost every play which does not turn upon the events 
in pagan Greece and Rome. Henry IV, referring to an 
intended crusade in Palestine, mentions " the blessed 
cross " under which he proposes to chase the pagans 
on the holy fields over which walked the " blessed feet 
that were nailed for our advantage on the bitter cross." 



38 

Henry VI, at the bedside of Cardinal Renufort, im- 
plores him to hold up his hand "in signal of his hopes of 
heaven's bliss." The cardinal "dies and makes no sign." 
Warwick, the earl, remarks that so bad a death argues 
a monstrous life ; whereupon Henry exclaims : "Forbear 
to judge, for we are sinners all." Henry V builds chan- 
tries, that sad and solemn priests " may sing for the soul" 
of Richard II ; and he has, he says, " on yearly pay five 
hundred poor, who twice a day hold their withered 
hands up to Heaven, praying God to pardon blood." 
The practice of knolling to church with holy bell re- 
ceives respectful recognition, (As Y~ou Like It.) Portia 
{Merchant of Venice) does not forget the prayer for 
mercy offered up in the sermon on the Mount. The 
Doctor, in Macbeth, calls upon God "to forgive us all." 
Macduff prays the pious Edward, the holy King, (Ed- 
ward the Confessor,) to help Scotland in her extremity,, 
"with Him above to ratify the work." In Hamlet we 
find an allusion to the Christian anniversary, and the 
Prince, at the sight of his father's ghost, invokes 
the protection of "angels and ministers of grace." And 
where do we find a more pregnant reference to immor- 
tality than in the glorious soliloquy on the folly and 
wickedness of a suicidal act as an escape from the " ills 
we have?" In Othello, where human vices and weak- 
nesses are the dominant features of the play, we find 
Desdemo7ta calling upon the Lord to have " mercy on 
her soul," and Othello himself, with crude notions upon 
the subject, nevertheless reverences Christian doctrine. 
In Richard III the Duke of Gloster seeks the aid of 
two clergymen " as props of virtue for a Christian 
prince." In Richard II the Bishop of Carlisle is spoken 
of as a clergyman of holy reverence, and the bishop, in 
his turn, alludes to Norfolk as fighting for Jesus Christ 
" in glorious Christian field, strewing the ensign of the 
Christian cross." And does not Cardinal Wolsey, at 
the close of his career, declare that he had better have 
displayed zeal in the service of the Almighty than in 
that of a king who had left him naked to his enemies ? 
But without dwelling further upon the direct and frequent 



39 

allusions to the doctrines of Christianity, we may find 
proofs in the plays of a recognition of the saving influ- 
ence of prayer and repentance. They are to be found in 
abundance. The King, in Hamlet, praying in his closet, 
offers a striking exemplification of these virtues: "Try 
what repentance can; what can it not?" Isabella, in 
Measure for Measure, pleads for mercy on her brother's 
behalf, and dwells on the efficacy of prayer. And many 
other instances may be traced incidentally scattered 
through the plays. But beyond all this, Nature (God's 
own works) receives the continual expression of Shakes- 
peare's homage to the Giver of all Good. He bids his 
readers find tongues in trees ; books in the running- 
brooks ; sermons in stones ; " good in everything." How 
eloquent is the Friar, in Romeo and Juliet, on the pow- 
erful grace that lies in herbs, stones, and their true 
qualities ! The whole universe, in fact, is made tributary 
to Shakespeare's efforts to instruct. And the pleasing 
mediums of romance and poetry are as often employed 
as the forms of didactic homilies to impart a feeling of 
godliness to the student. What more can or need be 
said? 

Chkistom. Mrs. Quickly means chrisom. A chrisom child 
is one that died within a month after its birth. The 
chrisom cloth was a white cloth put on at baptism and 
retained to be used, if necessary, as a shroud. 

Chronicle. To record ; to describe. 

Chuck. Chicken ; a term of endearment. 

Chuffs. Vulgar clowns ; misers ; fat men. 

Cicatrice. The scar left by a wound. 

Cicester. Corruption of "Chichester" in Sussex. 

Ciel ! (Fr.) Heaven! 

Cincture. A girdle. 

Cinna. (Helvetius.) There were several Cinnas, but Helve- 
tius being a friend of Cassius he is naturally the per- 
sonage of the name in Julius Gcesar. 

Cinque ports. Five ports on the Kentish coast of England 
under the special guard of a nobleman called "the 
warden." 

Cipher, v. To decipher. 



40 

Circe, n. A mythical enchantress who metamorphosed men 
into beasts. 

Circummured, ad. Enclosed by a circular wall. 

Circumstance, n. Argument ; conduct ; detail ; circumlocu- 
tion. 

Circumstanced, ad. Governed by circumstances. 

Cirum Circe. All round the circle. 

Cit l. Mention ; recital ; quotation. 

Cite. To incite. 

Cittern. A musical instrument. 

Civet. The foul flux of a cat which supplied a perfume much 
used at a period when chemical science had not evolved 
and condensed the odor of flowers. The smell must have 
been powerfully offensive. Cowper, the poet, writes : 

"I cannot talk with civet in the room, 
A fine puss gentleman that's all perfume. 
The sight's enough — no need to smell a beau. " 

Civil. Grave ; solemn ; human. A branch of the law dis- 
tinct from that applied to criminals. The initials LL. D. 
indicate a person who has obtained the degree of " doc- 
tor of civil law." ad., civilized. Civil, as applied to 
oranges, is a mistake for " Seville," in Spain, whence a 
certain acid class of oranges is exported. 

Civil monster. A man whose wife is faithless. 

Clack dish. Mendicants were accustomed to go about the 
streets with wooden dishes for the reception of broken 
meats, and they " clacked " the dishes to announce their 
presence to benevolent housekeepers. 

Clamorous. Dolorous ; noisy : demonstrative. 

Clamour. A term in bell-ringing ; a chime. 

Clamour- moistened. Noisy grief, accompanied by tears. 

Clap in. Fall to. 

Clap f the clout. To hit the mark in archery. 

Clapper-claw. A free use of the nails ; a woman's weapon in 
hostilities. 

Clasp. To clasp hands ; ratifying an agreement. 

Claw. To flatter. 

Clean- timbered. Symmetrically-shaped. 

Clear. Pure ; v., to purify ; absolve ; purge ; acquit. 

Clearest. Purest. 



41 

Clearness. Exemption ; not to be compromised. 

Cleft. Cove ; split. 

Cleft the roof. Split the heart with false vows, as one would 

cleave the mark in a target. 
Cleopatra. Queen of Egypt ; the daughter of one Ptolemy 
and the wife of another. The name of Cleopatra is 
Greek, and signifies "the glory of her country." 
Clepe. To call ; term ; name. Clept and yclept are indiffer- 
ently found in the oldest poets. 
Clerkly. Scholarly. 

Cliff. From clef, (Fr.) Key ; a note in music. The word 
in King Lear refers to a chalky height near Folkestone, 
on the coast of Kent, (England,) which is popularly 
called, because of its mention in the play, "Shakes- 
peare's cliff." 
Cling. To dry ; wither ; shrink up. 

Clinquant. (Fr.) Gay; gaudy; decorated with gold and silver. 
Clip. To embrace. 

Clipped. Enclosed ; debased, as of coin. 
Clock. Shakespeare has committed a mistake in assigning to 
Brutus {Julius Ccesar) the possession of a clock that 
struck the hours. The first clock of that kind was con- 
structed in the eleventh century, A. D., by a monk, the 
Abbot of Hirsham. 
Close. To agree with. 
Close exploit. A private deed. 
Clot, or clod poll. A heavy-headed rustic. 
Clout. A nail, (from the French clou;) also, the white cen- 
tral spot in a target, commonly called the bull's-eye. 
Clouted shoon, or brogues. Hob-nailed shoes or boots. 
Clown. Lexicographers assign several meanings to this term. 
A vulgar, ignorant rustic is called " a clown ;" and the 
same title is bestowed on a sharp-witted rascal, like the 
scaramuccio of the Italians. The clown of a circus or a 
modern pantomime is a mixture of the acrobat and the 
jester. He tumbles, he struts, he utters jokelets. The 
Cloum in Twelfth Night combines the qualities of the 
court-fool and the droll. He is, iniact, called "Feste, 
the jester ;" and in other dramas the clown's wit elevates 
him to the rank of the wearer of the cap and bells. 
4 



42 

Clubs ! A cry for physical aid corresponding with the mod- 
ern appeal to the " police !" It was at one time the 
practice of shop-keepers to keep clubs in their shops 
for protection. 

Cnydus, or cnidus. Often misspelt, and pronounced " Cid- 
nus." The river on which Cleopatra made a grand dis- 
play {Antony and Cleopatra) in honor of Antony. 

Coach fellow. A comrade ; a confidant. 

Coals. To carry coals was deemed a degrading occupation. 
The calm endurance of an ignominy was likened to the 
operation. 

Coasting. Conciliating ; proceeding cautiously. 

Coasts and hedges. Insidious advances. 

Coat-of-arms. A term in heraldry denotative of the rank and 
descent of many knights and noblemen. The coat of 
Sir Thomas Luc}^ is made the subject of sundry sly allu- 
sions in the Merry Wives of Windsor. Sir Thomas is 
said to have punished Shakespeare's early transgression 
as a poacher on the justice's manor. The "luces" or 
coat-of-arms were, in fact, the fleurs-de-lis, (lilies,) but the 
word had likewise an offensive signification. 

Cob loaf. A crusty, uneven loaf of bread. 

Cock. A small boat (cock-boat) attached to a ship : also, the 
faucet or fixture by which the flood or stoppage of water 
from a pipe, or wine and beer from a barrel, is regulated. 
"A wasteful cock" is a figurative form of saying "I 
have opened the floodgates of my tears." — "The trumpet 
of the morn" — the chanticleer — which "proclaims the 
dawn." The idea, expressed in Hamlet, that on the eve 
of the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ the barn- 
door fowl singeth all the night long, was a tradition long- 
current in Catholic countries, and is not without war- 
ranty elsewhere. It has been heard by persons of credit 
in England, as well as Palestine, in recent years. 

Cock a hoop. A signal for a fight. 

Cock and pye. Some commentators allege that "cock" is 
a corruption of the sacred name of "God," and the 
"pye" a table in the old Eoman Catholic offices, showing 
how the service fixed for the day may be found. They 
add that " cock and pye " was a familiar oath until the 



43 

Elizabethan era. But for this elaborate exposition, 
plain readers would suppose that JPage, {Merry Wives 
of Windsor,) in the exuberance of his hospitality, was 
only swearing by the toothsome cates he proposed to 
offer his guests — possibly a roast capon and a venison 
pasty. He says, in fact, " they have a hot venison 
pasty to dinner." Page was not a Papist, and would 
hardly have been made to swear a Catholic oath. 

Cockatrice. The fabled Basilisk, with an evil eye, that could 
strike a person dead with a glance. 

Cockle. A corn weed ; " the cockle of rebellion " — the seed of 
a revolt ; tares or darn weed. 

Cockle hat. The hat of a pilgrim to which a cockle-shell was 
attached. 

Cockney. A cook. The word comes from the French cocag?ie, 
an imaginary land of luxury and idleness. 

Cock sure. Certain ; infallible. 

Cock shut- time. Twilight ; the time when nets were spread 
to snare woodcocks and fowls that go to roost. 

Cod. A pea or pea shell. 

Codding. Amorous. 

Codling. An unripe apple. 

Codpiece. A part of a man's costume. 

Coffin. The cavity of a raised pie. 

Cog. To cheat ; to lie. 

Cognizance. A mark ; a badge. 

Coigne. An angle of a building. 

Coil. Bustle ; stir ; tumult. 

Coin. (See Angel, Cross, Three Farthings, Tester, &c.) 

Colbrand. A Danish giant, said to have been overcome by 
the redoubtable Guy, Earl of Warwick. 

Cold. Naked. 

Collection. Drawing a conclusion. 

Collied. Blackened ; covered, as it were, with coal. 

Collier. Another name for a cheat. Colliers were notorious 
for giving short measure. 

Collop. A slice of flesh. 

Colorable. Specious. 

Colors. Frauds ; deceits ; disguises. 

Colour, or color. Argument ; false appearance. 



4:4 

Coloquintida. A bitter drug ; colocynth. 

Colt. To tease ; to cheat. 

Colted. Bidden ; possessed of a colt ; cheated. 

Comart. A joint bargain. 

Comate. Companion in exile or on a voyage ; a wife. 

Combine. To bind. 

Combination. Betrothal. 

Comeddled. Mingled. 

Comedy of errors. The Menocapone of Plautus appears to 
have provided the origin of this diverting play. 

Come off. To pay. 

Come of will. To succeed. 

Comfort. To aid ; abet ; give ease and peace to another. 

Comma. Connection. 

Commence. Put in operation. 

Commends. Recommends ; to commend oneself to another 
through a letter or a third person is equivalent to the 
transmission of friendly greetings. 

Commission. Authority. 

Commodity. Trade ; credit. 

Commonty. A comedy. 

Community. Frequency. 

Compact. Agreement ; put together ; composed. 

Companies. Companions ; good fellowship. 

Companion Originally used contemptuously, as " fellow, be- 
gone !" The word is now of opposite meaning. 

Compare. Comparison, when used as a noun. 

Comparative. A dealer in comparisons ; a punster ; open to 
comparison ; also, suitable compensation. 

Compassed. Round, as " compassed window ; " a bow window : 
" compassed cape," as, rounded the cape. 

Compassionate. Plaintive. 

Competitor. Confidant. 

Complement. Accomplishment ; decoration ; disguise. 

Complement extern. Outward display. 

Complexion. The use of this word in the Merchant of Ven- 
ice shows that the aversion of the white to the colored 
races was very strong three or four centuries ago. Mis- 
cegenation, on a large scale, will never be perpetrated 
while the antagonism of races prevail. It was not " a 



45 

good inspiration " on the part of Portia 's father to ex- 
pose his daughter to the risk of being compelled to 
marry a Moor. 
* * "Good my complexion!" an exclamation in As 
You Like It, may have had no more literal signification 
than " Bless my soul !" " Bless my heart alive !" — phrases 
of frequent modern utterance. 

Complices. Accomplices. 

Compliments. Regards. 

Comply. Handle carelessly ; to trifle with. 

Compose. To agree. 

Composition. Bargain ; consistency. 

Compostuke. Composition. 

Composuee. A combination. 

Compt. Account. 

Comptible. Submissive ; susceptible ; disposed to examine ; 
liable to be called to account. 

Con. Give ; study ; owe. 

Conclusions. Experiments. To " try conclusions " was a 
phrase for an encounter of wits or weapons. When 
Launcelot Gobbo {Merchant of Venice) says " confu- 
sions," which is the reading suggested by some annota- 
tors, he probably means the same thing, but utters a 
word more in accordance with his own comprehension 
of the context of language. Launcelot, like all the other 
characters in Shakespeare of the same class of life, talks 
a great deal of nonsense in the plenitude of his ignor- 
ance. Whether the frequent instance of the inversion 
of phrases was actually a feature of the colloquy of the 
common people, or a trick of Shakespeare's to raise a 
laugh at their expense, must remain a question. Log- 
berry, {Much Ado About Nothing ;) Capulefs servant, 
{Romeo and Juliet,) and others have the same habit of 
speech. 

Concavity. Depth ; a cave. 

Conceit. Imagination ; wit ; guess ; idea. 

Concealments. Wonderful secrets. 

Conceived to scope. Reaching the highest point of imagina- 
tion. 

Concent. Harmony of action. 



46 

Concert. Concerted harmony. 

Concupy. Concupiscence. 

Condition. Nature ; disposition ; profession. 

Conditioned. Well disposed ; generous ; noble. 

Condolement. Grief. 

Conduct. Escort ; a military term ; a conductor. 

Conduit. A channel formed for the distribution of water. 

Coney catching. Tricking ; poaching ; pilfering. 

Confect. To prepare as sweetmeats. 

Confession. Profession. 

Confines. Borders ; boundaries. 

Confineless. Boundless. 

Confiscate. To appropriate to State uses the private property 
of individuals who have violated the law. All smuggled 
goods, when seized, are confiscated, and the property of 
felons is similarly sequestrated. The pronunciation of 
this word in Shakespeare is regulated by the claims of 
euphony. Thus, in one passage in the Merchant of 
Venice it is necessarily pronounced con/jscate — the em- 
phasis being placed on the penultimate ; in another the 
stress falls on con, the first syllable. 

Confinees. Persons who stay at home and lead idle lives. 

Confound. Employ ; expend ; confuse ; trouble ; destroy in 
combat. 

Conge d. (Fr.) Taken leave, or conge. 

Congee. The sea eel. 

Congree. To agree. 

Congruent epitheton. An epithet agreeing with the subject 
in hand. 

Conject. Conjecture. 

Conjunction. Matrimonial engagement ; betrothal. 

Considerate stone. " I will be silent and only think." {Antony 
and Cleopatra.) 

Consign. To confirm ; sign ; seal. 

Consigned. Sealed. 

Consist. Insist; stand. 

Consistory. The assemblage of cardinals. 

Consonancy. Corresponding with equality. 

Consort, v. Associate with ; companionship. 

Conspectivity. Faculty of observation ; visual power. 



47 

Constancy. Consistency, as well as adherence to one love or 
one purpose. 

Constant. Firm of purpose. 

Constantly. Firmly. 

Constantinople. King Henry V. talks of taking the Turk 
by the beard at Constantinople, but the Turks did not 
occupy the city for thirty years after his death. 

Constee. To construe. 

Consuls. Statesmen in office exercising joint rule ; counsel- 
lors: The " toged consuls," referred to by lago, 
(Othello,) indicate senators in their robes. 

Contagion. Venomous ; poisonous. 

Contemptible. Synonymous with contemptuous. 

Continents. Banks of earth holdiog rivers in restraint. 

Continuance — continuate. Uninterruptedly. 

Continuation teem. An unbroken period. 

Conteaction. A marriage contract. 

Conteaeious. Different. 

Conteaey. Opposite to. The stress is sometimes laid on the 
middle^ syllable. 

Conteive. To conspire ; beguile ; assist. 

Con tutto il cuoee ben teovato. (Ital.) " With all my heart, 
right welcome." 

Conteol, v. To confute ; n., controlment ; punishment. 

Convent. Agree to or with. 

Convented. Convened ; summoned. 

Conveesion. Change of condition. 

Conveet. To change. 

Conveetite. A convert. 

Convey. To steal ; to pass oneself off as another. 

Conveyance. Trick; juggling; sleight of hand; putting away; 
murder. 

Conveyed himself. Derived his title. 

Convince. Overcome. 

Convicted. Baffled; overpowered. " A whole armada of con- 
victed sail is scattered by a roaring tempest." — King 
John. 

Convive. To be convivial ; n., a feast. 

Convocation. Congress ; assembly. 

Cooling caed. Metaphorically, an insurmountable obstacle. 



48 

Copatain hat. A hat with a conical crown. 

Cope. Encounter; covering. 

Cophetua. A king who fell in love with a beggar girl. 

Copie. Main part ; burthen or subject. 

Copped. Rising to a top or head. 

Copy. Theme; example. 

Coragio. (Ital.) Courage ! be of good cheer ! 

Cokal. Ariel, in the Tempest, says : " Of his bones is coral 
made." This is a mistake, even metaphorically. A pene- 
tration into the mysteries of the deep has shown that 
the coral polyps are beautiful marine insects. 

Coram. The presence. 

Coram judice. Before a judge. 

Coranto. A dance in which there was much running and 
leaping. 

Corinth. A brothel. The Corinth of ancient Greece was 
deemed the most licentious city of the time. 

Corinthian. A cant name for a dissolute person. 

Corky. Dry. 

Corner-cap. A corner-stone. 

Cornets. Troops of dragoons. 

Cornuto. (Ital.) A cuckold. Literally, a horned person. 

Corporal. Corporeal. 

Corollary. A surplus of anything ; a logical deduction from 
a fact or hypothesis. 

Corrigible. Corrected. 

Corrival. Opponent. 

Corrosive. Apt to decay. 

Corse. A corpse. 

Costard. A small apple. 

Coster monger. A dealer in costards. 

Cote, v. To overtake and accompany ; n., a cottage. 

Cotquean. A frivolous person ; an incontinent female. 

Cotsell. For Cotswold, in Gloucestershire, where coursing 
matches took place. 

Couch. To lie with ; to crouch ; bow low. 

Coulter. The sharp edge of a plough. 

Count, v. To reckon ; depend upon ; n., a title of nobility. 

Countenance. Favor ; false appearance ; hypocrisy. 

Count cardinal. A title applied to Wolsey {Henry VIII) as 
a Count Palatine. 



49 

Countek. To oppose ; conflict ; act in a contrary direction ; 
also, a term in hunting when a hound doubles in his 
path, missing the game. 

Counters. Representatives of and substitutes for coins used 
in games and in reckoning up accounts- 

Counterfeit. A portrait. 

Counterfully. Deceptive ; falsely. 

Counter-gate. The door of a debtor's prison. Originally 
written " compter," to indicate that the court held there 
took cognizance of " accompt " or " account " cases. 

Counterpoint. A term in music. Identical, according to 
Gremio, {Taming of the Shrew,) with counterpanes, 
bed-coverings. 

Countervail. To outweigh ; counterpoise. 

Country base. Prisoner's base or bars. 

County. A count. 

Coup le gorge. (Fr.) Cut the (his) throat ! 

Couplement. A couple. 

Course. Race ground ; arena for athletic games. " The or- 
der of the course " was the arrangement at the starting 
point, and the programme of the entertainment. Also, 
a sail of a ship. 

Court confect. A spurious nobleman. 

Court cupboard. A sideboard. 

Court of guard. The station of the main guard of an army 
or at the entrance of the court or square of a palace or 
citadel. 

Court hand. The manuscript of legal documents. 

Court holy- water. Flattery. 

Cousin, or coz. A friendly term, not always referring to kin- 
ship. At the present day the British sovereign sends, 
commands, or assigns duties to her "right trusty cousin" 
and "counsellor.'' 

Covent. A convent. 

Cover. To wear the hat. (See Bonnet.) 

Cowed. Awed ; frightened. 

Cowish. Timid. 

Cower-staff, or cowl-staff. A staff or pole used in carrying 
a basket. 



50 

Cowslips. The passage in Midsummer Nights Dream — 
" The cowslips tall her pensioners be " — 
has been said to mean an allusion to the costumes of 
the English guards in the reigns of Henry VIII and his 
daughters. They were then, and for a long time after- 
wards, called " gentlemen pensioners," now " gentlemen- 
at-arms." The "rubies" and "fairy favors," causing 
freckles, are the little red spots in the cowslip. 

Cox my passion. An old oath ; an euphuism for God's passion. 

Coxcomb, or cock's comb. (See Fool.) 

Cot, v. To caress; n., modest; timid- 

Coyed. Acted with reserve. 

Coysteil. A mongrel hawk ; a menial servant. 

Cozen. To cheat. 

Coziek. A clumsy workman ; a botcher. 

Coziek's catches. The songs of a low class of winebibbers. 

Cbab. A word of double signification — a shell-fish and a 
fruit. The latter is called a crab-apple. 

Crace. A small bark. 

Crack, n. A smart boy ; a., dissolute. 

Cracker. A boaster. 

Crack hemp. One destined to be hung. 

Craftily. Carefully ; secretly ; cleverly. 

Crank. To crook ; to wind. 

Cranking, or crankling. The rush of a river. 

Crants. Funeral garlands ; broken crockery used at funerals. 

Crare. A small ship. 

Crash. To be merry over. 

Craven, v. Makes cowardly ; n., coward ; a., applied to a 
degenerate game-cock. 

Create. To compound. 

Credent. Credible ; in good credit. 

Credit. Report. 

Crescent. Growing in that form. 

Crescive. Growing. 

Cressets. Small iron baskets stuck on posts to hold the ma- 
terial for torches or bonfires. 

Cressida's uncle. Pandorus, ( Troilus and Cressida.) 

Crest. The very top ; the highest, whether of a coat-of-arms, 



51 

the superlative beauty of a woman, or the summit of a 
mountain. 

Crestless. The having no right to armorial bearings. 

Ckewett. Worsted. 

Crisp channels ; i. e., curled — curled by the breeze. 

Crisp heaven. {Timon of Athens.) Probably a misprint of 
crypt or " vaulted." 

Crispin Crispinus. The saint who followed the business of a 
cobbler or shoemaker. Canonized for his endeavors to 
propagate Christianity, the 25th October was named as 
his day in the Christian calendar. The battle of Agin- 
coiirt, or Azincour, was fought on that day in 1415, and 
furnished some striking scenes and speeches in Henry V. 

Critic. Cynic. 

Critical. Censorious. 

Crocodile. Moisture oozing from the eyes of the reptile 
gave the idea that it wept — an emotion so opposed to 
its savage nature as to suggest the comparison of its 
tears to hypocrisy. 

Crone. A very old woman. 

Crook. To bend in the form of a hook. 

Crosby place, or crosby hall. The whilom dwelling of the 
Duke of Gloster {Richard III) is in Bishopsgate street, 
London. It has been ascertained that Shakespeare re- 
sided in the immediate neighborhood and attended at 
the church, nearly opposite to the " Place," in memory 
of which possible incident a memorial window was placed 
in the church in 1884. 

Cross, v. To confront ; interpose an obstacle. From Hora- 
tio's {Hamlet) declaration that he would cross the ghost, 
though it might blast him, the inference may be drawn 
that it was at one time supposed that spirits could act 
hostilely. n. A coin stamped with a cross ; also, a lofty 
erection, resembling the cross at Golgotha, often found 
at the roadsides in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Eus- 
sia, Ireland, the Northern (French) part of Canada, and 
other lands where the Eoman Catholic religion prevails. 
Sometimes all the paraphernalia of the crucifixion are 
attached, the more powerfully to sway the imaginations 
and excite the sympathies of the poor pedestrians who 



52 

stop on their way to kneel and offer a prayer at the foot 
of the cross. 

Gross- ways. The intersection of four roads. Until a compar- 
atively recent period the dead bodies of suicides were 
perforated with stakes and buried at those points. 

Crow- keeper. A scare-crow : one employed to shoot at crows. 

Crowned. Dignified; advanced; honored. 

Crownet. A coronet. ' 

Crowner's quest. A coroner's inquest. The blunders occa- 
sionally perpetrated by these inquisitors into the cause 
of death is covertly satirized in the verdict of felo de se 
pronounced in the case of Ophelia, (Hamlet.) The cir- 
cumstances of her death, as conjectured, or known to the 
Queen, point directly to an accidental drowning. She 
was reaching for a flower while seated on the branch of 
a tree ; the branch broke, and she fell into the lake. At 
the worst, it may have been a case of " temporary insan- 
ity," yet she is found to have " wilfully sought her own 
salvation," in the language of the Grave-digger, and her 
remains only obtained benefit of clergy by the high 
command of the King ! 

Cry. The music of the bark of a pack of hounds. 

Cry aim. To encourage. 

Cuckoo. Rosalind (As You Like It) speaks of the song or 
call of the cuckoo as unpleasing to the married man, be- 
cause it sounds like Cuckold, a man dishonored by his 
wife's infidelity. 

Cuckoo buds. Wild flowers of a yellow hue. 

Cucullus non facit monachum. (Lat.) "A hoocl does not make 
a monk." 

Cue. From the French word queue ; the tail or end of a 
speech, which is the signal for the next actor to speak 
or do. 

Cuisses. (Fr. cuisse — thigh.) Armor for the thighs. 

Cullion. A bad fellow. 

Culverin. A piece of ordnance embellished with representa- 
tions of deadly, venomous objects, especially snakes, 
couleuvres, (serpents,) whence probably the name of the 
cannoD. 

Cunning. Skill ; knowledge. 



03 

Curb and woo. Possibly " curve " was written, as it implied 
a bowing or bending of the person in solicitation or 
deference, and accords with the text better than curbing. 

Curiosity. Finical delicacy. 

Curious. Scrupulous. 

Curiously ; neatly ; ingeniously. 

Curled. Foppishly dressed. 

Currents. Passing events ; circumstances ; occurrences. 

Cursorary. Cursory. 

Curst. Shrewish ■ cross ; ill-tempered. 

Curtail. A cur. 

Curtailed. Shortened; diminished. 

Curtel. A horse whose tail has been docked. 

Curtle#axe. A small sword, or hatchet, hung across the thigh. 

Curtness. Sharp tongue. 

Curtsy, as applicable to the courtesies of ships towards 
each other' (see Merchant of Venice) when meeting at 
sea, has undergone some change. It was the practice 
for the smaller barks to lower a top-sail or dip a nag 
when meeting a large vessel. The usage has been su- 
perseded by the system of signalling, and the inter- 
change of civilities is expressed by each mentioning the 
longitude by observation on the particular day of en- 
counter, or communicating the latest intelligence from 
the port lately quitted. 

Cushion. A head dress, somewhat resembling a turban, pecu- 
liar to Henry IV and his time ; also, the seat of civil 
power. 

Custalorum. A vulgar abridgment of custos rotulorum — 
keeper of the records ; a justice of the peace. 

Custard. This pleasant compound was the material of very 
large pies — " quaking custards," as they were called — a 
common feature of grand feasts. Their enormous size 
justified the allusion, in AIVs Well That Ends Well, to 
the man who jumped into one. 

Custom. It is not unworthily denominated a " tyrant " and 
a " monster," for it often governs men in defiance of 
their sense of propriety. 

Customer. An opprobrious term for a loose woman. 



5<± 

Cut. Call me " cut " — one of the contemptuous phrases of the 
Elizabethan age. " Spit in my face and call me horse" 
was another. It were superfluous to seek their meaning 
and origin. 

Cut and long tail. Poor and rich. The phrase was pro- 
verbial. The " cut " meant the short " bolt " or arrow, 
and " long " indicated the feathered arrow. 

Cutpurse. A highway robber. 

Cuttle. The knife of a cutpurse. 

Cymbeline, or Kymbeline. One of the most puzzling of 
Shakespeare's plays. It is replete with incongruities 
and anachronisms. The era of Augustus Csesar is con- 
founded with that of the Italy of the sixteenth century. 
The rude dwelling (in Wales) of the chief of an. Anglo- 
Saxon tribe — such as Cymbeline, would have been — is 
depicted as palatial, with rooms of state, a bed-room 
decorated with pictures, sculpture, tapestry, curtains, 
&c, and the young lady of the family reads herself to 
sleep at a time when English women had not even the 
rudiments of literature. She reads the tale of Tereas ! 
Knighthood is mentioned before any Order was dreamt 
of, and there are other inconsistencies and contradictions 
throughout. Yet the play is interesting in the develop- 
ment of the plot, and it abounds with poetic beauties, 
exceptionably Shakespearian. 

Cypress. Branches of the tree were used by the Romans at 
funeral rites. It is, therefore, spoken of as an ill-boding 
plant. 

Cyprus. At the period supposed in Othello this island was 
under the sovereignty of Venice. It was, however, taken 
by the Turks in 1370, and retained by them until, in 
1870, it was ceded to Great Britain. The word " Cy- 
prus " signified a transparent stuff. 

Cytherean. Applied to Venus, because she was an object of 
worship in Cytherea. 

D 

Daff. To put aside ; put off. 

Daffodil. Shakespeare's familiarity with the floral kingdom 
enabled him to adapt his references to the period of the 



55 

year when the wild flowers severally blossom. His 
March flowers were the daffodil and the violet. Autoly- 
cus, in the Winter's Tale, sings : 

" When daffodils begin to peer, 

With heigh ! the doxy over the dale, 
Why, then conies in the sweet o' the year, 
For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale. 

And Perdita, in the same play, says : 

"Daffodils, 
That come before the swallow dares, and take 
The winds of March with beauty ; violets dim, 
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes 
Or Cytherea's breath." 

An eloquent writer observes : " This last passage is proba- 
bly the most perfectly felicitous piece of expression in 
the language, and our best example of discreet and 
faultless art, co-existing with the flowing opulence of an 
apparently spontaneous evolution. Much of the exqui- 
site harmony of the lines will be found to depend on the 
way in which alliteration, not too conspicuous, is carried 
from line to line, and on the fact that, perhaps with one 
exception, there are not in any one line two accented 
feet carrying the same vowel sound. 
The older poets were fond of the daffodil. Michael Dray- 
ton uses it as a simile for a shepherd's maid. 

Dagger. A thin sword-shaped elastic weapon of wood carried 
by the Yice in masques and mummeries. It is now used 
only by harlequins in pantomimes. The steel dagger, 
as a weapon of offence or defence, has been used in all 
countries time out of mind. 

Daintry. The ordinary abbreviation of Daventry, a town 
in Northamptonshire. 

Daisy. Chaucer connects the daisy with the month of May ; 
Shakespeare makes it an April flower. In The Rape of 
Luerece there is an exquisite image : 

" Without the bed her other fair hand was 
On the green coverlet ; whose perfect white 
Shew'd like an April daisy on the grass." 

And in the song which concludes the play of Love's La- 
bor s Lost, the white and red of the flower are alluded to : 

" Daisies pied and violets blue, 
And lady smocks all silver white." 



56 

Dally. To trifle. 

Dama.sk. A rose of mixed colors. 

Dancing house. A horse trained to an intelligence almost 
human, and exhibited in England three or four centuries 
ago. It was a Barbary horse called " Morocco." 

Dancing rapier. A sword worn in dancing. It is mentioned 
in Titus Andronicus, though it does not appear to have 
been a Roman appendage. 

Dangee. Control ; power ; reach. 

Danish sword. This refers to some very remote period of 
history, when England had suffered discomfiture at the 
hands of Denmark, and cheerfully paid tribute to the 
Northern Kingdom. 

Dank. Damp ; unwholesome. 

Daniel. The Jews had great reverence for Daniel, the inter- 
preter, prophet, and judge in Israel. When Alexander 
the Great visited Jerusalem, the Book of Daniel was 
placed before him, and his conquests and ultimate do- 
minion were said by the Jews to be predicted in the 2d 
chapter, 2-40 — a piece of flattery very agreeable to the 
Macedonian madman, who, therefore, spared Jerusalem. 
Shylock can find no complimentary term more expres- 
sive of his admiration of JPorticts wisdom than "a 
Daniel come to judgment." 

Danskee. A Dane. 

Daphne. The young person who fled from the attentions of 
Apollo, and was by him transformed into a laurel, the 
branches of which were to be typical of honor. 

Darlings. A slang or contemptuous word for fops. 

Daenel. A coarse kind of grass. 

Daedanian. Trojan. Dardanus, a city, according to the Iliad, 
situated at the foot of Mount Ida. King Dardanus was 
the putative ancestor of the Trojans. 

Dare the field. A phrase in falconry indicating that the 
game is afraid to rise. 

Daekee. Hidden. 

Dark house. Gloomy home. 

Darkling. In the dark. 

Darius. The rich jewelled coffin of this Assyrian prince had 
been taken from him by Alexander the Great and used 



57 

to enclose the poems of Homer, for which Alexander 
had great taste. 

Daeeaign. To act on ; array. 

Dabting. Skilful in the use of the javelin and arrow. The 
Parthians were famous, above all ancient persons, for 
their skill as archers. 

Date. Duration ; likewise an Oriental fruit. The orthogra- 
phy supplies Shakespeare with a pun. 

Daub. To disguise with paint, rags, &c; or, in the assump- 
tion of a character, to paint badly. 

Daubeby. Falsehood; counterfeit. 

Daw. The generic term for a large class of birds remarkable 
for then chattering propensities and marauding habits. 
The chough, the chewet, the starling, the jackdaw, the 
magot or magpie, all fall under this denomination, and 
find frequent mention in Shakespeare's works. 

Day-bed. A sofa. 

Day woman. A dairy-maid. 

Deae. Extreme ; excessive ; intense ; beloved ; worthy ; val- 
ued ; momentous. Sometimes used for dire or dread. 

Deae a halfpenny. Scarcely worth a half-penny. 

Deabest. Best ; greatest. 

Deabn. - Lonely.- 

Death's head. A memento mori in the form of a skull cut 
out of a precious stone and worn as the decoration of a 
pin's head. The practice of wearing such things is not 
extinct, but it is more a whimsical fancy than an article 
of moral significance. 

Death's eool. The clown in a Morality. 

Death tokens. Black spots on the skin indicative of the dis- 
ease called the plague. 

Debtee. Feeble. 

Debitoe. A debtor. "Debitor and creditor" was the title of 
a once popular volume which treated of pecuniary trans- 
actions. 

Debobah. The sword of Deborah {Henry IV, First Part) 
is a figurative allusion to the prophetess who judged 
Israel and encouraged Barak to attack Sisera. (See 
Judges, chap, iv.) Shakespeare, in this, attempts a par- 
allel between Deborah and La Pucelle, Joan of Arc. 



58 

Deboshed. Debauched. 

Decay. Poverty ; misfortune. 

Deck, v. Adorn ; picture ; bedeck ; n., a pack of cards. 

Decked. The sea. A north country word for " sprinkled." 

Decline. To fall ; also, to give all the grammatical uses of a 
noun substantive. 

Decline upon. Sinking. 

Deem. Thought ; j udgment ; suppositious ; surprise. 

Deep fet. Deep fetched. 

Deek. Animals. 

Deer's tears. Although these are called lachrymal sinus, 
"tear channels," they have no discovered connection 
with the nostrils, lungs, or heart of a deer. They are 
probably one of fatigued nature's outlets. 

Default, v. To fail ; ad,, at a need. 

Defeat. Utter ruin ; destruction. In war, the loss of the 
battle. 

Defeated joy. Qualified pleasure. 

Defeature. Disfigurement. 

Defence. The act of fencing ; to forbid. 

Deftly. Dexterously. 

Defy. Renounce ; reject. 

Degrees. Steps. 

Delation. Close connection. 

Delay. To let slip. 

Deliculo surgere saluberrimum est. "It is profitable to rise 
above effeminate pleasures." 

Delighted spirit. Taken in the sense of enticed away, (Lat., 
delectare,) the phrase may mean the spirit released, 
separated from the body; "to bathe in fiery floods." 
See Dante's "Inferno" and the Ghost of Hamlet' 1 s father's 
description of purgatory. 

Deliver. To communicate ; give utterance to purpose and 
thoughts. 

Demerits. Virtues ; merit. 

Demurely. Gracefully, solemnly. 

Den. Evening. " Good den," brief for good evening. 

Denay. Denial. 

Denmark. The King of Denmark. 

Denier. A farthiug ; the lowest coin ; the twelfth part of a 
French sou. 



59 

Denotement. The act of noting or marking. 

Denude. Strip ; divest. 

Denunciation. Public announcement. Also, a mistake for 
annunciation. 

Deny. Refuse. 

Depakt. To part. 

Departing. Separating life from death. 

Depend. To be in service or dependence. 

Depose. Affirm ; make a deposition in law. 

Deracinate. To root up. 

Derived. Of good origin or parentage. 

Derogate. Debased. 

Descant. To reflect upon ; a variation in music. 

Deserved. Deserving. 

Designed. Marked out. 

Despatched. Bereft. 

Desperate. Bold; determined. 

Despised. Wasted. 

Destinies. The Fates. 

Detected. Suspected. 

Determined. Put an end to ; termination. 

Determined time. The settled period of death. 

Detest. A mistake for "protest." 

Deucalion. An individual who lived fifteen centuries before 
the Christian era, and in whose time the earth is said to 
have been flooded. This is one of the incidents in the 
classical (Greek) traditions analogous to the facts re- 
corded in Scripture history. The great flood referred 
to by Cassius (Julius Ccesar) was doubtless that in 
which Deucalion, and not Noah, figured. 

Devise. Invent ; plot ; scheme. 

Dew. This noun is occasionally used by Shakespeare as a 
verb. A fairy says (Midsummer JVighfs Dream) she 
is employed by Titania "to dew her orbs upon the 
green." 

Diana. The goddess of the chase ; the moon ; the patroness 
of foresters, &c. "Diana at the fountain" (As You 
Like It) is a supposed allusion to a statue ornamenting 
a fountain, the water flowing from her bosom. 

Diana's priests. Vestal virgins. 



60 

Dian's bud. Diana was supposed to control the unruly pas- 
sions. The adjective " chaste " was often applied to her. 
Her " force and blessed power " over Cupid's sugges- 
tions has led botanists to call the tree Agnex castes. 

Dick. " May it do," or serve. 

Dickon. A nickname for Richard III. 

Dictyana. Diana ; the moon. 

Dido. "Widow Dido," of course the Queen of Carthage, 
widowed because deserted (as alleged) by iEneas. 

Die. A spotted ivory cube used in gambling. The fortune 
of a player is decided by a throw of the dice, (plural of 
die.) To stand the "hazard of the die" was to risk 
one's choice of life or fortune on the number of spots 
displayed in a cast of the cubes. 

Diet. Compelling to fast ; taking food under restriction. 

Dietek. A caterer ; one who cuts bulbous fruits or vegetables 
into shapes as decorations of a dish. 

Dieu de batailles. (Fr.) "God of battles." 

Dieu vivant. "By the living God." 

Diffekence. In heraldry, a distinguishing badge. 

Differing. Mixed in rank and opinion ; confused ; strange ; 
dark. 

Diffused. Disorderly. 

Digress. To transgress ; stray from the right path ; break a 
promise. 

Dig-you-good-den. Give you good evening. 

Dll FACIANT, LAUDIS SUMMA SIT ISTA TU^. (Lat.) "The gods 

grant this may be the sum total of thy glory." 

Dildos. The burthen of a song. 

Dint. Impression. 

Dikectitude, (vulgar.) Disgrace. 

Direction. Judgment ; skill. 

Direness. The acme of all that is terrible. 

Disable. To disparage ; undervalue ; dispraise ; impeach. 

Disappointed. Unprepared. 

Disastrous. In an astrological understanding it signifies dis- 
placement. 

Dis. " Dusky Dis ; " Pluto. 

Disbench. To cause a person to rise from a seat. 

Discarting. To dissolve ; removing the candies — sweets. 



61 

Discase. To undress. 

Discharge. To perform. 

Discontent. Malcontent. 

Discourse of reason. Power of argument. 

Discreet. Used in the sense of decent, to distinguish certain 
songs from the obscene. 

Disdained. Disdainful. 

Disedged. Satiated ; the edge of the appetite removed. 

Disgrace. Misfortune. 

Dishabited. Dislodged. 

Dislimn. To remove or efface a painting. 

Dislike. Displease. $ 

Disme. A tenth. 

Dismembered. Quartered ; cut to pieces. 

Dispark. To deprive a park of its enclosures, and therefore 
of its exclusiveness. 

Disperge. To sprinkle. 

Disponge. To squeeze out of a sponge. 

Dispose, v. To command ; incline ; ad., personal appearance. 
A "smooth dispose" implies a handsome face. 

Disposition. Frame. 

Dissemble. To glaze over; disguise. 

Dissembly. Assembly. 

Dissent. Displace. 

Distent. Instant. 

Distaste. Operate disagreeably. 

Distempered. Ruffled. 

Distemperature. Planetary or mental disturbance ; disorder ; 
out of time and season. 

Distraction. Small detachment. 

Distemper. Intemperance. 

Distraught. Distracted. 

Distressful. Full of misery. 

Disvouched. Contradicted. 

Divert. To turn aside. 

Divines. Ministers of the Gospel. 

Dives. The rich man. 

Division. In connection with music the word means " varia- 
tion. 1 ' "With ravishing division to her lute," {Henry 
IV.) 



62 

Divulged. Published. 

Do. (Ital.) A note in music. 

Do me right. Pledge me ; drink to me ! 

Dorr. To put off; cast aside. 

Dog fox. The male fox. 

Doit. A small coin formerly used in Holland. 

Dole. Portion ; share ; cause for dolor, (grief.) 

Dolphin. The Dauphin ; heir to the throne of France. 

Dolphin chamber. Rooms in inns and hotels bore names 
to distinguish them at a time when only a small num- 
ber of guests could be received, and numerals had not, 
therefore, necessarily come into use. Mrs. Quickly, the 
hostess at the Boar's Head in Eastcheap, had several 
apartments in her inn named, respectively, the Pome- 
granate, the Half Moon, the Dolphin, &c. The rooms 
of a certain hotel at Stratford-on-Avon are named after 
Shakespeare's plays. 

Don. To put off. 

Done. Expended ; cast aside ; put off. 

Done to death. Murdered. 

Done upon the gad. Suddenly. 

Doomsday. The day of judgment ; the day of all men's eter- 
nal doom — not to be confounded with Domes or Do- 
mus day, the day when a tax on the lands assigned to 
William the Conqueror by his barons and other adhe- 
rents was payable. The register of all these lands was 
called the Domesday Book, a copy of which is still ex- 
tant in the British Museum. 

Doricles. The name by which Prince Florizel ( Winter's 
Tale) passes at the shepherd's dwelling. 

Dotent, or Dotant. Dotard ; one who foolishly dotes ; an 
imbecile. 

Double. False; deceitful. 

Doublet. A wadded coat reaching below the waist. 

Double- vouchers. Duplicate documents ; a law term. 

Dough. This word, occurring in the proverb, "My cake is 
dough," expresses that a purpose is not yet accom- 
plished, the "dough" being simply a cake in a stage of 
preparation. It was a common form of expressing a 
disappointment. 



63 

Dout. Extinguish. 

Troves. U A dish of doves," the present which Old Gobbo 
takes to Launcelot for his master, {Merchant of 'Ven- 
ice,) was a remnant of the old custom of offering a pair 
of doves as a token of gratitude or propitiation of favors. 
The readers of Scripture will recall the incident. 

Dowager. A widow with a jointure or dower of which a 
young man had the reversion. In modern times the 
term is used to describe a lady who retains the title, 
though the husband from whom she derived it may 
have died and her son possess a wife who shares the 
position he has inherited. Thus, a dowager queen or a 
dowager duchess, marchioness, or countess may coexist 
with a queen, a duchess, &c. 

Dowlass. A coarse kind of cloth. 

Dowle. The swirl of a feather. 

Down gyved. Shoes down at the heel. 

Down roping. Flowing down. 

Drab. A dirty woman of a low class. 

Drachm. A Greek coin of small value, worth about ten pence 
English, or a quarter of an American dollar. It nearly 
corresponded with the Roman denarius, the value of 
which was ten asses or pounds of brass. The as or 
libra was a pound in weight. 

Dragon. Night was fabled to be drawn in a chariot by dragons. 
The dragons were supposed to be sleepless. 

Draught. A cesspool. 

Drave. Preterite of the verb to draw. 

Draw. The abbreviation of withdraw (your action at-law.) 
Also, tune a violin. 

Drawn fox. The trail of a fox drawn across a hunting ground. 

Dread. Dreaded; feared. 

Dress. Prepare. 

Dressings. Appearance of virtue. 

Dribblet. Weak. 

Dribbling. Ineffective ; pointless. 

Drive. To rush impetuously. 

Drollery. A comic entertainment, sometimes represented 
by puppets ; occasionally by living persons. 

Drowned. Defeated in naval warfare ; sunken ships. 



64 

Drugs. Drudges. 

Drug damn'd. Badly renowned for poisonous practices. 

Drumble. Slow ; sluggard. 

Dry. Thirsty. 

Ducdame, or duc adme. Lead me. 

Ducat. A Venetian coin of fluctuating value, averaging four 
or five shillings English, or an American- Spanish dollar. 
The name came from the Duc, Duke, or Doge, the 
chief ruler in Venice. 

Duck. To bend the head rapidly ; to nod. 

Due. Owing ; pertaining to, or endued with ; invested. 

Dug. The nipple. 

Dudgeon. The handle or hilt of a dagger. In old Scotland 
the hilts were basket-shaped and of steel, and called 
Dagge-a-ruellas. 

Duke. From Dux, (Lat.,) a leader. The title is used indiffer- 
ently by Shakespeare, either to indicate a successful com- 
mander, the ruler of a landed estate, or the possessor of 
an aristocratic title, which, in an English table of pre- 
cedence, follows the Prince of Wales. The title in Eng- 
land is hereditary and creative. France in the 14th and 
15th centuries, and down to the period of the great 
revolution, contained many " kingly dukedoms," {Henry 
V.) They were also numerous in Germany, the dukes 
either exercising supreme authority, or holding their es- 
tate as viceroys. The greater portion of these small Ger- 
man dukedoms are now absorbed in the unification of the 
empire, while those in France have been extinguished 
infuturo by the establishment of a republic, but retained 
by the original possessors of the title. 

Dull, v. To stupefy ; make indifferent ; render insensible. 
If the palm of the hand be dulled by frequent shaking, 
it loses its connection with the heart, and becomes a 
mere instrument of form and ceremony. Dulling the 
palm is expressive of the effect of spending money in 
entertaining people. Polonius {Hamlet) gives excellent 
advice to his son on this subject. 

Dullard. A cipher ; a nobody. 

Dumb show. Dumb significants ; signs with the hands, aided 
by expressive looks. The Italians brought the art of 



65 

representing the story or business of a drama by signs 
to perfection ; the actors were called " mime," whence 
the words mimicry, imitation, pantomime. 

Dump. A heavy and melancholy tune in music. 

Dun. "Dun's the mouse," a hint to silence, equivalent to 
" Mum, don't say a word !" The word " dun " was in 
use in an old game called a Drawing Dun," possibly re- 
ferring to a horse, " We'll draw Dun out of the mire." 

Dup. To do up ; to raise up. 

Durance. A stuff of permanent value. 

Duties. Qualities ; natural appurtenances. 

E 

JEsop. The fabulist, who, being hump-backed, supplied a par- 
allel to Richard III. 

Eager. Acrid; sharp. 

Eager words. Harsh language. 

Eanlings. Lambs. 

Ear, v. To plough the land that it may produce ears of wheat. 

Earnest. Pecuniary gratuity ; fee. 

Earing, ad. The ripening of wheat, corn, and other cereals. 

Earth treading. A complimentary term, comparing women 
to heavenly objects. 

Earthly happier. The idea that this is merely the compara- 
tive adjective in the sense of "more earthly," "more 
comparedly," may be safely accepted. 

Ear kissing. Whispering. 

Eastcheap. A narrow street in the east of London, Fal- 
staff's alleged place of resort. 

Easy. Fickle ; easily changed ; endurable. 

Eat him quick. Swallow him alive. 

Ebbed. Gone away ; turned like the tide. 

Ebon. Dark. 

Eche. To eke out. 

Ecstasy. Insanity. 

Edict. A law. In utterance the accent occurs on the first 
or second syllable, according to the application of the 
word. As a verb, the accent is on the last syllable. 

Edge, v. To sharpen ; give an edge to a weapon. 



66 

Ediles, or iEDiLES. Roman magistrates or officers of police 
who had the care of cities. 

Edward shovel-boards. Broad shillings, coined in the reign 
of Edward the Third or Fourth, and used as counters 
of pecuniary value at the game of shovel-board. 

Effects. Affections. 

Eftest. Readiest. 

Eggs. Will you take eggs for money ? A proverbial expres- 
sion, used reproachfully when a man sees himself wronged 
and takes no steps to punish the aggressor. 

iEGLE. A nymph mentioned by Virgil. Theseus, whose 
amours seem to have been the sport of Oberon, (vide 
Titanias reproachful, jealous speech,) was not merely a 
hero in war. He appears to have had many amatory pas- 
sages of a profligate character. 

Ego et rex meus. "I and my king." The arrogant egotism 
of Cardinal Wolsey, manifested in his letter to the Pope. 

Egregious. Extraordinary. In some instances the modifica- 
tion of meaning which words have undergone amounts 
to a complete reversal of their original signification. An 
example of this is in the word 4i egregious," which, ac- 
cording to its etymology, would denote any species of 
distinction from the grex, or common herd. And such 
seems to have been the earliest sense in which the word 
was used. It would be far from complimentary now to 
tell a man that he spoke egregiously. 
How thoroughly inverted had become the sentiments that 
dictated the use of this word may be seen by compar- 
ing a passage in a poem on the battle of Blenheim by 
John Philips : 

' ' One to empire born, 
Egregious prince, whose manly childhood shewed 
His mingled parents, and portended joy unspeakable." 

And Pope, in the year 1733, wrote : 

" How much, egregious Moore, are we 
Deceived by shows and forms!" 

And Dr. Johnson in his life of Pope : " This essay (On 
Man) affords an egregious instance of the predominance 
of genius, the dazzling splendor of imagery, and the 
seductive power of eloquence." 



67 

Travelling back in English literature, we find Milton writ- 
ing : "It may be denied that bishops were our first re- 
formers, for Wickliffe was before them, and his egregious 
labors are not to be neglected." And in the "Tambur- 
lane " of Marlowe, Shakespeare's predecessor, him of the 
"mighty line," we have "egregious viceroys of those 
eastern parts." Shakespeare himself speaks of an "egre- 
gious murderer," where the word simply means extra- 
ordinary, as it does also in the following sentence from 
Holinshed, whose "Chronicles of the Kings of Great 
Britain and Ireland" was the source whence Shakes- 
peare drew the materials for his historical plays : " Glut- 
tons and raveners, droonkards, and egregious devourers 
of victuals." 

Egypt. A gipsy. 

Egyptian thief. Thrames, a robber of Memphis, who slew 
his captive mistress to prevent her falling into other 
hands. 

Eisel. A misprint, or Shakespeare's own mistake, for Iser or 
Wesel. Or may he not have meant " Weser," the river 
in Germany contiguous to Denmark, presuming that he 
did not mean vinegar ? 

Eke. Besides. 

Eld. Old time ; old people. 

Eldee. Heart of elder. In the profusion of compliments 
which the Host of the Garter is paying to Dr. Caius 
{Merry Wives of Windsor) he may be supposed to 
mean the heart or pith of the elder tree. Shakespeare 
may have been thinking of the line in Spenser : 
" Great nature, ever young, yet full of elder." 

Eldee gun. A pop-gun of the wood of the elder tree. 

Elected deee. Imogen {Cymbeline) thus describes herself 
as the deer that has. been selected for slaughter by the 
. huntsman. 

Elements. Leading spirits. 

Elf, v. To elf the hair is to leave it unkempt till it hangs 
from the head in a matted mass. 

Elf-skin. Possibly Shakespeare may have written " eel-skin." 
In either case the word signifies slenderness. 

Elvish maeked. Marked by fairies. 



68 

Emanuel. This word was generally placed at the top of let- 
ters in the time of Henry YI. It was akin to the com- 
plimentary phrase which occurs in Oriental correspond- 
ence, " God bless us !" 

Emballing. Holding the orb or ball while being crowned. 

Embaee. To expose the person. 

Embarquements. Impediments. 

Embassade. An embassy. 

Embossed. Enclosed ; swollen ; puffy ; raised up in alto-ri- 
lievo ; foaming at the mouth like an exhausted deer. 

Embowelled. Exhausted ; also, prepared for embalmment b}- 
the removal of the entrails. 

Embraced. Encountered in combat, hand-to-hand ; also, in- 
dulged in. 

Embrasure. An embrace. 

Eminence. Exaltation ; the title of a cardinal. 

Emmew. In falconry, to restrain ; to force a hawk to lie in 
cover. 

Empericatick. Irixpirical ; charlatanism. 

Empery. Imperial power ; allied to royalty. 

Emrold. The emerald. 

Emulate. To rival honestly without base envy. 

Emulation. Envious rivalry. 

Enact, v. To act. Polonius {Hamlet) says he did enact 
Ccesar and was killed by Brutus in the Capitol. Ham- 
let's reply, that it was " a brute part in him to kill so 
capital a calf there : ' must have been intended by Shakes- 
peare to be a remark "aside," for the Prince was too 
much of a gentleman to insult Polonius by saying so 
to his face. The pun on " capital " would not have been 
made if Shakespeare had been aware that Cwsar was 
not killed in the Capitol, but in Pompey's theatre. 

Enactures. Public decrees. 

Encase. See Case. 

Encave. To enclose oneself in a cave. 

End. " Still an end " forever ; continually. 

Endart. To dart from : thrust in. 

Endeared. Pledged. 

Endymion. The handsome shepherd for whom the chaste 



69 

Diana thought it worth while to leave her dwelling-place 
in the skies and pay him a visit as he slept on the hill. 

" Those who called her chaste 
Me thinks began too soon their nomenclature." 

— Byron. 

Enfeoff. To surrender one's independence and dignity ; to 
give oneself up ; to invest with possession on payment 
or reception of a fee. 

Engaged. Entangled ; foils twisted together in fencing ; fight- 
ing. 

Engines. Artillery pieces ; u counterfeits of the immortal 
Jove's dread thunderbolt." 

Engineeks. The artificers and officers who manage engines. 

England. "A little body with a mighty heart." Fond as 
Shakespeare was of his native land, he nevertheless 
seized every opportunity of ridiculing the weaknesses 
of his countrymen. See the Tempest, where Trinculo 
discovers Caliban; see also the Grave-digger in Ham- 
let; Portia's description of her English suitor, Falcon- 
bridge, &c, in the Merchant of Venice. 

England's chaie. The throne. The false setting referred to 
in Richard III (Act V, Scene III) means the gems of 
paste. Pieces of glass, with colored foil beneath them, 
represented the usurper's crown. 

Englut. To swallow up ; dissipate. 

Engross. To follow ; add up ; multiply ; fatten. 

Engrossments. Accumulations. 

Enkindle. To stimulate. 

Enmesh. To enclose, as in meshes or nets. 

Enridged. Bordered roughly, irregularly. 

Ensconce. To hide oneself. 

Enseamed. Greasy. 

Ensear. To destroy, burn up, or exhaust prematurely. 

Enshield. To conceal ; protect ; mask. 

Ensign. A standard, flag, or banner. The Roman ensign 
consisted of a gilt eagle on a pole, with a label beneath 
bearing the initials S. P. Q. JR. — Salus JPopulus qua 
JRoma?iorum, ("the safety or protection of the Roman 
people.") The title of " ensign " is that of the lowest com- 
missioned rank in certain armies or navies. See Ancient. 



70 

Entertain. Encounter ; experience. 

Entertainment. Consideration of a proposal. 

Entreated. Treated. 

Entreatment. Interview. 

Envious. Malicious. 

Envoy. See L'envoy, or L'envoi. 

Envy. Enmity ; malice. 

Ephesian. It is vain to attempt explanations of all the words 
used by the Host of the Garter, {Merry Wives of 
Windsor.) He has but little conception himself of the 
meaning of half the terms he inflicts upon the guests. 
" Bohemian Tartar" is another of his nonsensical com- 
binations. 

Equipage. Attendance. Pistol {Merry Wives of Windsor) 
uses it to signify stolen goods. 

Ercles. Hercules. Bottom, the weaver, in the Midsummer 
JSTigMs Bream, is made the vehicle for the ridicule of 
some of the bombastic dramatic dialogue of the time. 
Fury and alliteration were two of its characteristics. 
One of Seneca's heavy plays entitled "Hercules" pos- 
sibly suggested the desire, put into Bottom's mouth, to 
play a part "to tear a cat in." 

Erebus. A very dark part of the infernal regions ; the tem- 
porary abode of those who are ultimately to be trans- 
ferred to Elysium — the purgatory, in fact, of heathenism. 

Ere. Before. 

Erewhile. Recently. 

Ergo. (Lat.) Therefore. 

Erring. Errant ; wandering. 

Error. " Melancholy's child." When men lose heart " they 
often fail in great attempts." Messala {Julius Cwsar) 
means that the doubts which oppressed Casslus led him 
to commit the great mistake of suicide. 

Escape. An illegitimate child. 

Escoted. Paid ; supported. 

Estate, v. To resign ; transfer ; bestow. 

Esperance ! Hope — the motto of the Percy family. 

Espials. Spies. 

Essential. Existent ; real. 

Estimate. Price : the value at which an article is esteemed. 



71 

Estimation. Surmise ; conjecture. 

Estridges. Ostriches. 

Eternal. Perennial. 

Eterne. Eternal. 

Ethiope. The black complexion of a native of Egypt or 
Ethiopia. 

Et tu, Brute! "And thou too, Brutus!" Caesar's surprise 
that JBrutus, whom he loved so well, should have taken 
part in his assassination naturally suggested the use- 
lessness of resistance. " Then, fall, Caesar !" But these 
alleged last words of eminent men have been so often 
proved to be the mere emanations of the minds of sur- 
vivors that it has come to be doubted if Coesar did really 
use the expression. Who heard him ? 

Euphuism. This affectation in language employed by Osric 
{Hamlet) and ridiculed by the Prince was for a time 
very popular at the court of Queen Elizabeth. In a 
preface to one of Lily's plays, " Euphues, or the Anat- 
omy of Wit " or " Euphues and His English," whence 
the term " euphuism " is derived, Blount, an editor and 
critic, remarks that " that beautie in Court which could 
not parley Euphuism was as little regarded as shee 
which now thei»e speaks not French." 

Even. To make evident.. 

Even christian. Fellow christian of humble rank. 

Even plucked. Intertwined. 

Ever among. At the same time. 

Everlasting, n. The Almighty ; also durable, in relation to 
wearing apparel. 

Evils. Jokes. 

Evitate. Avoid ; escape. 

Examined. Doubted. 

Excellent differences. Distinguished excellencies. 

Excrement. A superfluity in "growth ; an excrescence ; the 
beard; " valor's excrement." 

Execute. To use or employ. 

Executor. Executioner. 

Exempt. Deprived of ; separated ; parted ; excluded. 

Exequies. Funeral rites. 

Exercise. Homily ; religious discourse. 

Exeunt. See Exit. 



72 

Exhale. Used extravagantly by blustering jPistol, who prob- 
ably means " draw " your sword, or " your last breath." 

Exhaust. To draw forth. 

Exhibition. Allowance ; display ; accommodation. 

Exhoktation. In severe Puritanical times, when preaching 
and prayer entered into all the concerns of life, certain 
" over-righteous " persons had a practice, when called 
upon to say grace before meat, of inflicting grave gene- 
ral homilies upon the host and his guests. A grace 
" as lang's my arm " is referred to by Robert Burns in 
his apostrophe to a haggis. As this usage was consid- 
ered rather tedious by hungry guests at a feast, Gra- 
tiano {Merchant of Venice) considerately proposes to 
end his exhortation " after dinner." 

Exigent. Extremity ; pressing ; the end. 

Exigencies. Funeral ceremonies. 

Exion, (vulgar.) Action. 

Exit. (Lat.) To depart. In the plays it means [as a stage 
direction] he or she quits the stage. When more than 
one person goes out the plural "Exeunt" is employed. 

Exorcise. To raise spirits. . 

Expect. Expectation. 

Expedience. Haste ; expedition. 

Expedient.- Expeditious. 

Expend. To spend. 

Expense. A dear expense ; an act worthy of the expenditure 
of trouble. 

Expiate. To end. 

Expostulate. To expound ; discuss. 

Exposture. Exposure. 

Expressed in fancy. An allusion to the gay colors and frip- 
peries of costume. 

Expulsed. Expelled. 

Exsufflicate. Blown upon ; hissed off ; extravagant. 

Extend. To seize ; a legal form. 

Extent. Violence ; seizure. 

Extenuate. Mitigate ; relax ; palliate. 

Extern. Outside. 

Extinct, v. To extinguish. 

Extirp. Efface ; abolish ; root out. 



73 

Extract. Extracted. 

Extracting. Distracting. 

Extraug-ht. Descended; extracted. 

Extravagant. Erratic. 

Extremes. Extremities. 

Eyasses. Eaglets ; young hawks and kites. The name applied 
by Rosencrantz (Hamlet) to aspiring children who occu- 
pied the stage of the city to the exclusion of the adult 
actors. This is one of the instances in which Shakespeare 
availed himself of events passing at home, within his 
own sphere, to create incidents in his dramas. His pro- 
fessional brethren, and perhaps himself, were suffering 
at the moment from the passing popular curiosity about 
a corps of juvenile players, the choir of the Royal Chapel. 
When Hamlet speaks of the children exclaiming against 
"their own succession," he simply foreshadows what has 
often happened in the case of precocity. It seldom 
reaches a healthy and enduring maturity. Few actors or 
actresses realize the promise of their early youth. 

Eyas musket. A young hawk. 

Eye. Shade of color ; a glance. 

Eye of green. Shade of color. 

Eyliads. Soft glances. From oeillades, (Fr.) 

Eyne. Eyes. 

Eysel. Vinegar. Hamlet refers to this or the river of the 
name in his struggle with Laertes. 

F 

Fa. A note in music. The scale is do, re, mi, fa, sol, la. 
"An you re us, and fa us, you note us," (Romeo and 
Juliet.) It is worth remarking that originally there 
were seven syllables in the gamut — the initial syllables 
of a verse of a hymn to St. John. Do was, at a later 
period, substituted for ut, for the sake of the better 
emission of sound. 

Fable. When Othello says " that's a fable," he refers to the 

cloven foot of Satan's fancied personality. Its presence 

in Iago would have proved him to be the devil in the 

fabled form, and, therefore, unassailable by human 

7 



74 

weapons. "If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill 
thee." 

Face, v. To pretend ; play the hypocrite ; to oppose ; trim ; 
decorate. 

Face-eoyal. A privileged face. 

Facinoeous. Wicked. 

Fact. Guilt. 

Factious. Impatient ; urgent ; insistent. 

Faculty. Exercise of power ; honors ; offices ; duties. 

Fade. Vanish. From vado, (Lat.) 

Fadge. To suit. 

Fadingo. A dance. 

Fail. Failure. 

Fain. Fond ; gladly ; willingly. 

Faint peimeose beds. Referring either to their perfume or 
their softness in accumulation. 

Faie. Fairly ; fairness. 

Faieee table. A better map ; a more promising future ; a 
more satisfactory record ; the lines on the palm of the 
hand ; the fortune-teller's chart ; palmistry. 

Faiby-take. There was no limit to the alleged powers and 
tricks of fairies. Amongst the superstitious they suffi- 
ciently accounted for the burglaries and larcenies in a 
household. The "harmless necessary cat " and the mod- 
ern policeman were not then the imputed aggressors. 

Faitoe, oe faitoue. Traitor ; a vagabond. 

Faith. Fidelity. 

Faithfully. Fervently. 

Faithless. Unbelieving. The Catholics seldom spoke of the 
Jews without the prefix " infidel " in some form or other. 

Fall. To drop. 

Falchion. A sword. 

Falling sickness. Epileptic fits, to which, according to Plu- 
tarch and Suetonius, Csesar was subject. 

Falsely. Illegally. 

False peints. Erroneous or fraudulent impressions. 

Falsing. Falsifying. 

Familiae. A demon ; an attendant evil spirit. 

Fancies and good-nights. Ballads ; brief poems. 

Fancy. Love. 



75 

Fancy-free. Free to give latitude to the thoughts, untram- 
melled by love fancies. 

Fancy-sick. Love-sick ; the very opposite of " fancy-free." 

Fane. A temple or monument. 

Fang. A curved and venomous tooth. 

F angled. Dressed up ; decorated. 

Fantastical. Imaginative. 

Fantasticoes. Affected persons. 

Fantasy. Imagination. 

Fap. An obsolete slang term for stupefied by drink. 

Farced. Stuffed, (from the Ital. farci.) Applicable to a 
form of cookery, or to the florid titles of a sovereign. 

Fardel. A burthen, (from the Fr. fardeau.) 

Fare. Food ; entertainment : form of life. " How fare youf 
was a mode of salutation equivalent to the modern "How 
do you do f 

Farfet. Far-fetched. 

Far forts. In advance. 

Fartherance. Assistance ; co-operation. 

Farthingale. A roll used in female attire for raising the 
gown above the hips. 

Far-tuous, (vulgo.) Virtuous. 

Fashion. Method ; form ; the popular style in dress and 
manners. 

Fashions. The farcens, (or farcy,) a disease of horses. 

Fast. Unalterablv ; constant. 

Fat. Dull. 

Fate. Decreed or destined fortunes. 

Father, v. To assume a responsibility. 

Fathom Capacity. 

Faulconbridge. The gallant bastard son of Richard Cceur de 
Lion {King John) must not be confounded with the 
typical "young English baron," who is the subject of 
Portia's {Merchant of Venice) ridicule, as a traveller 
who has seen nothing and can speak no language but 
his own. Shakespeare seemed to have a just contempt 
for the superficial tourists who returned to their native 
country with no higher profit than certain exotic man- 
ners and an eccentric costume. (See Rosalind's rebuke 
to " Monsieur Traveller," and the sly sarcasm levelled at 
Lepidus in Antony and Cleopatra.) In the third part 



76 

of Henry VI the name again occurs as indicating 
" Thomas, the natural son of William Neville, Lord 
Faulconbridge. " 
Faul. Fault. 

FAUSTE ! PEECOE GELID A QUANDO PECUS OMNE SUB UMBEA. " Oh, 

Fortune ! I pray for cold when all are under shelter." 

Favoe. Feature ; countenance ; general appearance ; also, 
the silken scarf worn over armor ; a lady's gift to a 
knight or warrior going forth to Palestine. 

Feae, v. To alarm. 

Feaeed, or Afeaeed. Afraid. 

Feaeful. Timorous ; also the opposite, " formidable." 

Feat, a. Dextrous ; ready ; v., to fashion ; " a glass that 
feated him" — i. e., gave him a model. 

Featee. More neatly. 

Featuee. Beauty. 

Fedeeacy. Confederate. 

Fedeeaey. Confederate. 

Fee. A lover's fee was understood to mean three kisses. 

Feedee. A dependant ; a servant. 

Feeding. Pasturage. 

Fee faem, or Feank feee. Unlimited duration. 

Fee geief. A peculiar sorrow ; a grief held in fee-simple. 

Feere. A companion ; a husband. 

Fee-simple. Land which (in English law) a man holds in per- 
petuity for himself and his heirs, and which exempts him 
from all service. 

Feet. Footing. 

Felicitate. Happy. 

Fell (of hair.) Flowing; the hide; also fierce, cruel, in- 
human ; v., to cut down. 

Fell feats. Savage deeds. 

Fen. A cave ; a marsh. 

Fence, v. The art of self-defence. 

Fennell. An herb eaten with certain fish. 

Fen-sucked. Marshes abounding in frogs ; the supposed 
abode of the fabulous dragon. 

Feodaey. An agent ; steward ; accomplice ; one who accepts 
a fee or gift for public service rendered ; also, one who 
holds lands or a position contingent upon his rendering 
service when called upon. 



77 

Fern seed. This seed, so small as nearly to escape the naked 
eye, was not only called invisible, but supposed to con- 
fer invisibility. 

Fester. To rankle ; wax virulent. 

Festinately. Quickly; hastily. 

Festival terms. Elegant phrases. 

Fet. Fetched ; descended from.. 

Fetches. Excuses ; pretexts. 

Fetch of warrant. A justifiable procedure. 

Few. " In few ;" in short ; briefly. 

Fico. A fig ! The word in the original Italian is used con- 
temptuously. Fico ! "Fig me! treat me with disdain." 

Fidele. Faithful ; the name assumed by Imogen, the heroic 
wife of Posthumus, (Cymbeline,) when she adopts male 
attire to go in search of her husband. 

Fidiused. A play on the name of Aufidius, with whom Cori- 
olanus had been fighting. 

Fielded. Experience of battle. 

Fifteen. A tax on the fifteenth part of a person's property. 

Fig. To insult. 

Fights. Parapets ; protection ; cover from an enemy in the 
field, and protection of a ship in war. 

Figures. Phantoms of a disordered fancy. 

Filch. To steal. 

File, v. To keep pace with; n., a list; roll; record. "The 
greater file " — the greater number. 

Filed. Abbreviation of defiled ; also, polished. 

Fills. Shafts of a wagon or other vehicle. 

Fill-horse. See Thill-Horse. 

Filly. The female foal of a mare. 

Filths. Drains ; sewers. 

Finch egg. A fop gaily attired. 

Find. To penetrate ; see through. 

Finder. A juror on inquests appointed to determine a per- 
son's sanity. 

Fine, n. The end ; a penalty ; ad., cunning ; finesse ; v., to 
embellish. 

Fine issues. Great consequences. 

Fineless. Without fine, end, or limit. 

Fine new. Bright as newly forged metal. 



78 

Finsbury. A parish in the east of London — once a fashion- 
able promenade. 

Firago. Virago ; scold. 

Fire drake. "Will-o'-the-wisp ; the fiery dragon of romance. 

Firk. To chastise. 

First house. The chief branch of a family. 

Firstlings. Earliest produce. 

Fit. A division of a song or poem. 

Fitchew. A polecat ; an offensive epithet applied to a loose 
woman. 

Fit o' the face. A grimace. 

Fits o' the season. Disorders of the time. 

Five-finger tied. Clasped by the hand. 

Fives. A distemper in horses. 

Fixture, Fixure. Position. 

Flag. A reed. 

Flamens. Roman priests of particular deities. The Flamens 
(or Flamines) of Jupiter were subjected to many re- 
strictions. 

Flapdragon, or Snap-dragon. Raisins steeped in brandy and 
set on fire, to be thus conveyed to the mouth. They 
are snapped out of the burning mass. 

Flapjack. A pancake. 

Flat. Positive. 

Flatness. Profundity. 

Flaunts. Disguises. 

Flaw. A gust of wind ; a lump of ice or congealation of any 
kind ; v., to break. 

Flayed. Stuffed. 

Flecked. Streaked; spotted. 

Fleece. The golden fleece which led Jason and the Argo- 
nauts to Colchos. 

Fleer. To cope with ; encounter ; argue. 

Fleet, v. Float ; flit ; change ; n., action or opinion ; an old 
debtors' prison in London, now extinct. 

Flemish. Dutch. The term " swag-bellied Hollander" ( Othel- 
lo) being synonymous with "Flemish drunkard," Mrs. 
Quickly applies the latter term to Falstaff. 

Flesh. To commence practice ; initiate ; experiment. To 
flesh a maiden sword expresses a first introduction to 
practical warfare. 



79 

Fleshed. Flushed ; satiated. 

Fleshment. Performance. 

Flewed. Deep-mouthed ; with broad, pendent chaps. 

Flexure. The faculty of bowing. 

Flibbertigibbet. A goblin ; a sprite. 

Flicker. To nutter. 

Flight. The passage of an arrow. 

Flirtgills. Wantons ; women of loose character. 

Florentius' love. Florent is a character in an old tale of 
Gower's — the Oonfessio Amantes. Florent's life de- 
pending on the solution of a riddle, he married a de- 
formed woman that she might solve it for him. 

Flote. A wave of the sea. 

Flourish. To ornament ; to sanction. 

Flout. To nutter ; insult. 

Flowers. See Plants and Flowers. . 

Flowery. Abundant ; plenteous. 

Flush. Ripe ; attained to manhood when the blood is on the 
now. 

Flushing. Causing redness. 

Fob. To impose upon ; rob. 

Foeman. An enemy in war. 

Foh ! Faugh ! or fie ! — an expression of disgust. 

Foil. Defeat ; placed at disadvantage. 

Foin. To inflict a scratch or slight puncture in fencing. 

Foison, or Foizon. Abundance ; rich harvest. From fusco, 
(Lat.,) outpouring. 

Folly. Depravity. 

Fond. Foolish ; weak. 

Fools. Shakespeare has introduced court fools into several 
of his plays, for he knew that they were of all ages and 
styles. But he has drawn nice distinctions in their 
characters. Some are mere jesters ; others, like Touch- 
stone, (As You Like It,) are sound philosophical reason- 
ers, and one is a type of affection, (King Lear.) The 
annals of folly hold nothing more curious than the his- 
tory of professional fools, who lived by their wit or 
their weakness. The custom of keeping court and do- 
mestic fools must have been very common at an early 
period. The Athenians had their public fools, called 



80 

"Flies," because they were free to enter into any ban- 
quet without invitation. Rome had her naturals and 
her monstrosities, manufactured expressly for the fool 
market. Haroun-al-Raschid kept a noted- jester named 
Bahalul, most probably an Armenian, for Armenia was 
held to produce the choicest strain of fools in the East. 
There are very early notices of fools in German courts, 
but not until after the Crusades did they become common 
among the Latin nations. Troyes would appear to have 
been the Armenia of the West, for there is a letter extant 
from Charles V of France to the mayor and burgesses 
asking them to supply him with another fool. Leo X 
kept a pack of jesters. Nor were they confined to the 
Old World, for Cortes saw at the court of Montezuma, in 
Mexico, a company of humorous misshapen beings, two 
of whom he procured and piously sent to Rome for the 
amusement of Clement VII. The pleasant folly spread ; 
women took to fooling, and nobles and men of learning 
jangled the bells and trifled with the dagger of lath. 
Fools amassed fortunes : estates were given to them ; 
witness one who held his lands upon the condition of 
executing "a saltus, a sufflatas, and a bambuhis''' yearly 
before the king. They were benefactors and founders 
of religious houses ; they became the confidants of kings 
and the mouth-pieces of political parties ; they were even 
sent on secret missions. In later times, Peter the Great 
recruited the ranks of his fools, who were divided into 
classes according to their qualifications, by enrolling 
among them those ambassadors or men of science whose 
negotiations or researches were not to his liking. The 
Franciscans borrowed their name, calling themselves 
"Fools of the world." The Jack Puddings, who fre- 
quented fairs and markets, stole their jokes. The fool's 
head was shaven, nor were the ladies spared this dis- 
figurement. Fools, being so constantly near the persons 
of great men, had often to stand amid the wreck of 
their fortunes, silent witnesses that favor, honor, and 
rank may be empty as the emptiest of jests. The fash- 
ion of humors has changed ; the old jests have lost their 
flavor. Muckle John, fool to Charles I, was the last 



81 

official royal fool in England, and in 1680 fools were 
reported "out of fashion.' 1 Fools carried little batons 
with fools' heads at the top, and they wore on their 
heads a decoration in form like a cock's-comb, whence the 
title "The King's cock-crower." 

Amongst the fools of Shakespeare none are so interesting 
as Lear's fool. He is a youth, not a grown man ; a pet- 
ted Jad, to whom his royal master looks for quaint say- 
ings and whimsical sentences when vexed or irritable ; 
a favored fellow, whose wayward speeches are tolerated 
and even liked w T hen graver cares press hard upon the 
old monarch, and to whose playful sallies he turns when 
desiring to fill a vacant half hour or beguile a leisure 
interval. The personal and affectionate interest taken 
by Lear in the lad is denoted at the very outset, and 
several expressions that fall from the King, when told 
that the fool is " pining away," exhibit his distress on 
the lad's account. 

Autolycus, the pedlar in the Winter's Tale, is not gen- 
erally placed among the fools and jesters of Shakespeare, 
but the songs he sings and the wit he utters are wit- 
nesses to the truth that he was intended to fill that po- 
sition in the play, while " the Clown " introduced is but a 
country booby. By his own account A utolycus was at 
one time in the service of Prince Florizel, and wore 
"three pile," that is, very rich velvet; but having dis- 
honored that service by some rascality he had been 
whipped out of the court, had passed through several 
grades of degradation, at last marrying a tinker's wife 
and turning pilferer. 

It is somewhat singular that the term " Fool " should have 
been applied to a class of jesters w T ho were remarkable 
for acute observation and original witticisms. Their 
utility at a court was shown in the freedom of speech 
which exhibited the vices and exposed the rogueries 
of treasonous parasites. They jested with impunity, 
not even sparing the sovereign they served if he per- 
petrated any special folly. Practically, the professional 
fool was a serviceable satirist in an age when there was 
no press. He spoke what the modern Punch and 
Charivari print. 



82 

Fool-begged. Petitions to the Crown on behalf of idiots, who 

were so called. 
Foot, n. An inferior. " My foot my tutor !" exclaims Pros- 

pero, apparently indignant that any one beneath him 

should presume to teach him his office ; v., to seize by 

the claws, as eagles, hawks, &c, pounce on their prey 

and tear it in pieces. 
Foot- cloth. Covering for a horse. 
Foe. Because. 
Forage, v. To plunder; revel. "Forage in blood" explains 

the violence used by soldiers in procuring food for them- 
selves and their horses. 
Forbid. Accursed. "A man forbid" implied that he was 

suffering under a Papal ban — i. e., denied benefit of 

clergy by a decree of the Pope of Rome. 
Force. To stuff; enclose; n., minced (or forced) meat in a 

vegetable or pastry. 
Forced. False ; of force ; perforce. 
Fordid. Destroyed. 
Fordo. To ruin ; undo. 
Fordone. Overcome ; vanquished. 
Foreign. Obliged to live abroad. 
Forend. Previous part. 
Forfend. To forbid. 
Forehard. Shaft : a powerful arrow used in point-blank 

. shooting. 
Forepast. Already possessed. 
Foreslow. To loiter ; to be dilatory. 
Forespent. Exhausted. 

Forestalled. Anticipated; eclipsed; prevented. 
Forfeit. Transgression. 
Forfeited. An offender against the laws ; one who breaks a 

bond and thereby incurs a penalty or forfeit. 
Forfeits. Penalties enforced by barbers in their shops if 

certain ridiculous rules were broken. 
Forfend. Prohibit. 

Forge, v. To suggest fears ; anticipate danger. 
FoRGETrvE. Inventive ; capable of forging ; mentally. 
Forked. Horned; cuckolded. 
Forks. The fingers. 



83 

Formal. Proper form. 

Former. Foremost. 

Forspent. Exhausted ; weary. 

Forspoke. Contradicted. 

Forth. Through ; right through. " Hear this matter forth." 

Fortinbras. The name of this Norwegian, who fulfils an un- 
important place in the imaginary epoch of Hamlet, has 
long since been incorporated among English proper 
names as Strong V tK arm. It was, perhaps, adopted 
during the Commonwealth, or later, when the revoca- 
tion of the Edict of Nantes compelled many French 
families to resort to England and adopt translations of 
their names, as Brown (Le Brun,) White (Le Blanc,) 
Black (Le Noir,) &o. 

Forthrights. Public paths. 

Forty. A word often used by Shakespeare to express an in- 
definite number. 

Forty pence expressed a wager. 

Fortuna della guerra. (Ital.) Fortune of war. 

FORWEARIED. Worn Out. 

Fossett, or Faucet. A tap and spigot comprehended. 

Fossett-seller. One who disposes of the foregoing articles. 

Found. Experienced. 

Foutre. (Fr.) A disgusting, untranslatable epithet. 

Fox. A sword. A drawn fox is a dead fox drawn over hunt- 
ing ground to give the scent to the dogs. 

Foxship. A cunning man. 

Fract. To break ; commercially, to fail in the date of a con- 
tract. 

Frampold. Cross ; negligent. 

Frank. The feeding place of a hog ; a sty. 

Franked. Confined in a sty. 

Franklin. A small freeholder. 

Fraught. Freighted. 

Frautage. Freight. 

Fray. A fight ; sometimes written "affray." 

Frayed. Alarmed. 

Free. Artless ; open. 

Free-gait. Military step. 

Freeness. Clemency ; giving freedom to bondsmen. 



84 

Fresh. A spring of fresh water. 

Fret. The stop or string of a harp or lute. 

Fretted. Dotted ; decorated ; embossed. 

Friend, n. A lover ; ad., friendship ; v., to befriend. 

Frippery. A rag store ; a shop for second-hand clothes. 

Frize. A coarse Welch cloth. 

Froissart. A French chronicler. Much of the early history 
of England is derived from the " Chronicles " of this 
writer. He seems to have judged the character of the 
people correctly. 

Frolic. Fun ; gaiety. 

From. In opposition to. 

Front. The forehead. 

Fronted. Opposed. 

Frontier. A frowning aspect. "The moody frontier of a 
servant brow " — an index of rebellion. 

Frontlet. A cloth for the forehead. 

Froth and lime. This was an instruction to Bardolph {Henry 
IV) to qualify the ale or sack for Falstaff. The froth- 
ing was produced by greasing the bottom of a tankard. 
For the explanation of the '"lime," see Sack. 

Fruit. The practice of eating fruit as a dessert, or sequel to 
a dinner, explains the comparison suggested by Polo- 
nius {Hamlet) for his appearance after a great feast. 

Frush. To crush ; break to pieces. 

Fub off. Postpone ; put aside on frivolous grounds. 

Fulfil. To fill full. 

Fulham. False dice. 

Full. Complete. "A full soldier." 

Full-fraught. Perfect in the possession of good qualities. 

Fulsome. Obscene. 

Fumiter. Smoking manure. 

Function. Office ; place ; or a bodily organ. 

Furnished. Equipped. "Furnished forth." 

Furnishings. Pretences ; colorings. 

Furnitor. An herb. 

Fust. To decay ; grow mouldy. 

Fustilarion. Probably a nickname for a sheriff's officer, who 
carried a staff or fastis. 



85 

a 

Gaberdine. A long cloak worn by the Jews in other times, 
and even by many at the present day. The gaber, or 
garber, is the cloak that gives the name to the entire 
article. The blue-cloaked beggars in Scotland were 
called Gaberlunzies, from their costume. It may be 
that the name came from the East, as the kabba or 
gabba is worn by the people in Mesopotamia. 

Gabriel. The first or christian name of an actor who played 
the small part of a messenger in the Third Part of 
Henry VI 

Gad, ad. The moment ; suddenly ; also, n., a sharp-pointed 
instrument. 

Gadfly. A troublesome insect with brilliant wings. 

Gadshill. A rising ground in Kent, overlooking the river 
Medway and the town of Rochester. The place where 
Charles Dickens lived and died. 

Gaoe. A pledge. 

Gain. Giving ; misgiving. 

Gainsay. To unsay ; deny. 

Gait. Pace ; step ; carriage. Equally applicable to the mo- 
tions of the human body or the progress of a transac- 
tion. 

Galen and Paracelsus. Physicians of some celebrity A. D. 
200. 

Galias. (From the Italian galliazza.) A heavy, three-masted 
vessel. 

Gall. To irritate. 

Galled-jade. The horse or mule chafed on the withers by the 
collar or other piece of harness. 

Gallia. Gaul, the ancient name of France. 

Galliard. A French dance. 

Gallian. The territory of Gaul. 

Gallimaufry, or Gallimaufrie. A medley dish of various 
meats. 

Gallow. To frighten. 

Gallowglasses. Stanislaus, who lived in 1570, describes 
these people as heavily-armed infantry — " men grim of 
countenance, tall of stature, big of limb, burly of body, 



86 

well and strongly timbered, and chiefly fed on beef, pork, 
and butter. The meat they eat half raw. and then com- 
plete the cooking of it in their own stomachs, where 
it is boiled with whiskey, (usquebaugh.)" They were 
Scotch-Irish — i. e., natives of the north of Ireland. 

Galloway-nags. Small horses bred in Galloway, a district of 
Scotland. 

Gamut. The scale of notes in music — do, (or ut,) re, mi, fa, 
sol, la. 

Gangrene. A mortification of the flesh. • 

Gamester. A lively person ; a wanton. * 

Gap and trade. The high road to preferment. 

Gaping. Shouting ; open-mouthed. See Pig. 

Garagantua. A gigantic personage who figures in the witty 
work of Rabelais — so called by his father because his 
first words were " drink, drink." Hearing them, the 
father said: " Que grand tu as et souple le gosier" — 
" How large you are, and pliant is your throat !" 

Garb. The " rank garb ;" a condition of sensuality. 

Garboils. Disturbances ; commotions. 

Garish. Gaudy ; exposed. 

Garnered. Treasured up. 

Garter. When very long hose formed part of a man's equip- 
ment the garter was an indispensable adjunct. The 
" Order of the Garter " is an English distinction, dating 
from the reign of Edward III, and conferred on noble- 
men of high rank for important services rendered the 
Crown or the country. See Honi soit qui mal y pense. 
Falstaff refers to the Order when he tells Prince Henry 
to "hang himself in his own hen apparent garters." 

Gasted. Frightened. The word is obsolete, but perhaps it 
is the parent of the slang word " flabbergasted." 

Gaunt. Meagre. The word is a corruption of Ghent, in Bel- 
gium. John of Gaunt — " time-honored Lancaster " — was 
descended from a Flemish family of Ghent, where he 
also was born. 

Gawds, Gawdy, Gawdry. Pertaining to vulgar finery and 
frippery as distinct from solid ornament. The French 
people were held to be most select and gracious in their 
apparel — "rich, not gaudy" — that proclaimed the man, 



87 

{Hamlet.) Clinquant, decorated, bagatelles, knick- 
knacks — all pertain to the gawdy family. 

Gaze. Attention. 

Gear. Business in hand ; things or matters. 

Geck. A fool. 

Geer. Troublesome affair. 

Gelded. Emasculated. 

Gelidus timor occupat artus. (Lat.) Cold fear seizes his 
limbs. 

General. The masses ; the public at large ; the lower classes. 

General gender. The mass of men. 

Generations. Children. 

Generosity. High quality ; nobility. 

Generous. Noble ; free ; lavish ; munificent. 

Genius. Inventive power. " The genius and the mortal in- 
struments are then in council." This passage in Julius 
Ccesar, which seems to have puzzled certain commenta- 
tors, was probably intended to convey the idea that the 
inventive faculty and the means to give it operation were 
at once and together the subject of the thoughts of the 
conspirators. 

Gennets. Small Spanish horses. 

Gentile. This term, originally signifying all sorts of heath- 
ens and unbelievers, gradually came to be applied by the 
Jews to the Christians, for, of course, the latter were as 
sceptical of the doctrines of the Israelites as the Jews 
had been. 

Gentility. Politeness ; urbanity ; refinement. 

Gentle, v. To ennoble ; ad., noble ; well born and bred. 

Gentleness. " True gentleness ;" the spirit of a gentleman. 
No one better understood or more highly valued the 
character of a true gentleman than William Shakespeare. 
He felt that it pertained to all ranks in life. It is the 
attribute alike of the prince and. the peasant ; and Shakes- 
peare mentions the word fifty times in connection with 
all that is great and good in man. A modern writer 
(W. M. Thackeray) seems to have embodied the ideas of 
the mighty dramatist in one or two striking paragraphs 
of a popular lecture. He says: "Wherever the English 
language is spoken there is no man that does not feel 



88 

and understand and use the noble English word ' gen- 
tleman.' " " Gentle in our bearing through life ; gentle 
and courteous to our neighbor — gentle in dealing with 
his follies and weaknesses ; gentle in treating his oppo- 
sites ; deferential to the old ; kindly to the poor and 
those below us in degree" — this it is to be a gentle- 
man, whether in the political circles of Europe, in Cali- 
fornia, New York, the backwoods, or the mining districts 
of America. That Shakespeare should manifest more 
interest in the aristocracy than in the lower classes is 
not simply the result of his own perception of the dif- 
ference in men wrought by education. He was much in 
the society of true gentlemen. The Earls of South- 
ampton and Surry were frequently with him. He must 
have been in communication with "Lord Bacon, and pos- 
sibly he may have seen Sir Philip Sidney, though Sidney 
died in the year 1587, when Shakespeare first went to 
London. 

Gentry. Complaisance. 

George. The title of an English knight who wears the " Gar- 
ter." 

German, or Geemane. Akin to ; suited to. 

Germany. ; ' Our neighbors, the Upper Germany," refers to 
some Lutheran disturbances in Saxony. 

Germen, Germins. Seeds beginning to sprout. 

Gest. (From giste, Fr.) A lodging-house or place — originally 
the halting stages of kings on a " progress ;" exploit in 
action. 

Get. To go ; to betake oneself. 

Ghastness. Having a ghastly, hideous appearance. 

Ghost. The Bible reading of this word is not precisely that 
which Shakespeare adopts. With him, a ghost is not 
simply the spirit of an individual utterly divorced from 
the body, but the representation of a deceased person 
returning to earth "in his habit as he lived," and actu- 
ally holding communication with living men. This was, 
in all probability, a concession to the credulous spirit of 
a half-civilized society rather than the result of Shakes- 
peare's own convictions, and perhaps its utility in the 
production of stage effect may have induced its adop- 



89 

tion ; hence the talking ghosts in Hamlet, Julius Ccesar, 
Richard III, Henry VI, &c. 

Gib. A worn-out, emasculated cat. 

Giddy. Inconstant ; unreliable. 

Giglet. A giddy girl ; a wanton. 

Gilder, or Guilder. A coin of the value of Is. 6d., English. 

Gifts. Talents ; natural endowments. 

Gilt. Money. 

Gimmel. (From the Latin gemellus — twin-doubled.) A ma- 
chine for producing motion ; a motor. In the instance 
in which Shakespeare uses it an interlocked instrument 
is meant, such as clock-work, the snaffle of a horse, &c; 
or it is possible that Shakespeare was thinking of gimmal 
rings, some of which had engraven on them a hand with 
a heart in it, when (in the Tempest) he makes Ferdinand 
say to Miranda, " Here's my hand," and she answers, 
"And mine, with my heart in it." A beautiful enamelled 
ring of this kind is extant. It opens horizontally, thus 
forming two rings, which are, nevertheless, linked to- 
gether and respectively inscribed on the inner side with 
a Scripture posy ; " quod. devs. conjvnxit," (" What God 
did join,''' 1 ) is engraved on one half, and " homo non sepa- 
rat," {"let not man separate") on the other. The ring 
is beautifully enamelled. 

Gimmel bit. A double bit. 

Gimmer. Contrivance. 

Ging^ An old word for " gang." 

Gingerly. Delicately. 

Gird. To jeer, scoff, dare, encounter; a gentle rebuke. 

Girdle. A belt to which the sword was attached, when 
worn. When it was said that " an angry man knows 
how to turn his girdle," the inference was that he had 
to get at his sword, draw, and use it. The buckle of the 
girdle of wrestlers w r as also turned back when they were 
going to operate. Its reversal gave them a better grip 
of the adversary's girdle. 

Glaive. A sword. 

Glass-gazing. Fond of consulting a mirror. 

Glassy essence. Fragile being or existence. 



90 

Gleek. To joke; crack jokes. 

Glooming. Gloomy. 

Gloze. To expound ; polish ; lie ; flatter. 

Glut. To swallow. 

Gnael. To snarl ; to gnaw. 

God ! It is worthy of note that the use of the name of the Most 
High having been forbidden by an Act of Parliament in 
the reign of James I, some of the editions of Shakespeare 
substitute the word " heaven/' a distinction almost with- 
out a difference, unless we are to understand that " God " 
means the Almighty Power himself, and heaven merely 
the supposed place of His abode, which in itself is pow- 
erless. It is more in accordance with our convictions 
that God is omnipotent, everywhere and at all times, 
that we should accept the first idea, and the profanity 
of the use of His holy name depends on the circum- 
stances in which it is employed. Taking the name " in 
vain " implies the violation of an oath. 

God befoke ! God be my guide ! 

Godded. Deified. 

God 'ild you ! God shield you ! 

Godfathers. Sponsors at the baptism of a Protestant chris- 
tian child. When Gratiano {Merchant of Venice) pro- 
poses to add ten to the two sponsors for Shylock, at his 
anticipated baptism, he alludes to a jury of twelve who 
would infallibly have condemned the Jew to death. But 
this is a palpable anachronism, for trial by jury was not 
a Venetian institution. 

God's boddikins. An ejaculation referring to the Saviour's 
person. 

Gondola. A covered boat used on the canals of Venice. To 
have " swam in a gondola " was a proof of foreign travel 
in the sixteenth century. 

Gondolier. The oarsman of a gondola. 

Gongarian. Pistol confounds the word with Hungarian, 
{Henry IV, Second Part.) 

Good. Commercially responsible ; good security. 

Good deed ! Indeed ! 

Good den. Good evening. 

Good jer ! " Good yer !" Tantamount to " What, the deuce !" 



91 

Good-nights. Last dying speeches. 

Good time. "In good time ;" apropos ; opportunity offering; 
maturity. 

Goose. A " Winchester goose " was an offensive appellation, 
indicating that the individual was the subject of a dis- 
gusting disease. 

Goebellied. Swollen by luxury. 

Goe'd. Soiled; tarnished. "My fame is shrewdly gored," 
(Troilus and Cressida.) 

Gorge. The throat. The rising in the gorge is a symptom 
of anger, indignation, (morally,) or (physically) a dispo- 
sition to vomit. 

Goese. A species of furze. 

Gospellees. Puritanically religious. 

Gossamee. Atoms that float in the sunbeams. 

Gossips. Midwives ; talkative women. 

Got. God. " Got wot," God knows. The mispronunciation 
of the sacred word is a Welsh characteristic. 

Go to. An obsolete phrase in the sense of "very well!" 

Goujeee. A scooper out. To gouge is literally " to tear out 
the eyes." Some commentators call the word " a name- 
less disease," because it is so in the French language, 
but the context in King Lear denotes its true applica- 
tion — Gloster's eyes have just been torn out by the bru- 
tal order of Cornwall. 

Goueds. Dice. 

Goued and Fulham. Obsolete cant words for false (loaded) 
dice. 

Gouts. Drops. 

Goveenment. Discretion ; good management. 

Go youe gait ! Go away ! vanish ! 

Geace. See Exhoetation ; also, Good Fobtttne. 

Geacious. Grace and beauty combined. 

Geace to boot ! An exclamation equivalent to " Give us grace !" 

Geained. Furrowed ; also, dyed ingrain. 

Geained ash. The staff or pole of a lance. 

Gbange. A lone farm-house ; a barn or granary. 

Geameecy. Grand merci, "many thanks." It was originally 
used in a pious sense, as Grace a Dieu ! " Thank God !" 

Geass. "While the grass grows the steed starves " is the 
proverb which Hamlet calls "musty." 



92 

Grapple. To grasp ; grip ; as an anchor clings to the bottom 

*^of the sea. 

Gratify, v. Recompense ; fee ; reward. 

Gratillity. A euphuism for gratuity. " I will impetticose 
your gratillity " — i. e., I will pocket your gift. 

Grates. Offends. 

Grats. Pleasure. 

Gratulate. To congratulate. 

Grave. To entomb. 

Grave man. A man in his grave. 

Graymalkin. A name given to cats, with which witches were 
supposed to sort. 

Greasily. Grossly. 

Great morning. The dawn ; daybreak. 

Greaves. The armor of the legs. 

Greek, with the prefix "foolish," (Timon of Athens,) was 
said to be synonymous with pander or pimp. A " merry 
Greek " was a term for a jester. 

Green. Young ; inexperienced. 

Green-eyed. This is rather a singular epithet to apply to 
jealousy, for it is not the fact that cats, the only well- 
known " green-eyed " animals, are more jealous than 
other animals ; nor is there any known " monster " that 
makes the meat it feeds on. A jealous disposition no 
doubt creates the misery of its owner by converting 
" trifles light as air " into " confirmation strong as proofs 
of Holy Writ," but the metaphorical allusion is not 
happy. " Mocks the meat " better expresses the inten- 
tion. 

Green sleeves. The title of an old once popular song. 

Greet. To weep. 

Greyhound's mouth. The greyhound can pick up its game 
while running at full speed, a feat no other dog can ac- 
complish. 

Griefs. Grievances. 

Griffin. A fabulous animal, which often figures as a crest or 
one of the supporters of a coat-of-arms in aristocratic 
societies. In form it is represented with the body of a 
horse, the tail of a lion, the claws and wings of an eagle, 
and a head which combines the features of the horse 



93 

and the eagle. May not this be derived from the Assy- 
rian figures, emblematic of physical power, wisdom, and 
ubiquity, which have been found in the buried ruins of 
Nineveh ? 

Gkise, Geize. Step. From Fr. gre. 

Grissell. An abbreviation of Griselda, the heroine of one of 
Chaucer's tales, and also of one of the tales in Boccacio's 
Decameron. The English poet no doubt borrowed from 
the Italian. 

Groat. Fourpence English. When Coriolanus speaks of an 
inferior class of people who bought and sold with 
" groats " he means either that they were retail dealers 
who sold their goods for small coin or trafficked in oats 
and grain beaten out of the husks. 

Groom. Not merely a stable-keeper, but a mean, low fellow 
of any or no occupation. Singularly enough, the term 
is employed to indicate a Court position or function, 
and, as an affix, it denotes the henchman or squire, for 
the moment, of a man about to be married. 

Gross. Palpable ; coarse ; exaggerated ; the sum total. 

Grossness. Simplicity. 

Groundlings. The people who occupied in a theatre the bare 
space between the stage and the circular seats, and now 
called the pit, parquet, or parterre. 

Guard. To fringe. 

Guardage. Custody ; protection. 

Guarded. Ornamented with lace. 

Gudgeon. A small fish found in English and French rivers, 
easily caught, and used by anglers as bait for larger fish. 

Guerdon. A reward. 

Gulled. Treacherous. 

Guinea-hen. The speckled peafowl, originally from the coast 
of Guinea, Africa ; an offensive appellation of a woman. 

Guisnes and Ard. Two towns in Picardy. 

Gules. Red ; a term in heraldry. 

Gulf. The throat. 

Gull. The young cuckoo ; an unfledged bird ; figuratively, 
a fool ; easily deceived. 

Gummed velvet. In rubbing dried gum off velvet a ruffling 
noise is produced like the twanging of a tightened harp 



94 

or guitar string. In music, the twang was called fret- 
ting. "I'll fret you." (See Taming of the Shrew.) 

Gun stone. A cannon ball. 

Gurnet. A coarse sea fish. "When stale it is soused in vine- 
gar — i. 6., pickled, to render it still edible. 

Gust. (From gusto, Ital.) Taste. 

Guts. The entrails ; the bowels. It is now considered a 
gross term. 

Gyve, v. To shackle; n., gyves; shackles. "Down gyved," 
as applied to loose hose reaching to the ankle, is a not 
inapt comparison as to appearances. Disconsolate lov- 
ers were accustomed to forget their garters. 

Hac. (Latin ablative of hcec, a demonstrative pronoun. It 
has three terms, varied by circumstances, as hie, hcec, 
hoc.) The Latin verse with which Lucentio (I'aming 
of the Shrevj) beguiles Hortensio runs thus : 

' ' Hac ibat Simois ; hie est Sigeia tellus ; 
Hie steterat Priarni regia celsa senis." 

Rhymer has thus musically rendered the passage : 

" This Simois — that the Sigsean land, 
And there did Priam's lofty palace stand." 

Hack. To notch ; make common; hence, "hacknied." 

Hackney. Common ; stale. 

Haggard, ad Pale ; wan ; wild. In falconry, a hawk that is 
untrue to its training. 

Hail! A salutation — "all hail!" from the Saxon "hael" — 
a good health ! 

Hair. Quality ; complexion. Wigs and false ringlets must 
have been as much in fashion in Shakespeare's day, and 
long previously, as they are at the present time. JBas- 
sanio refers to the crisp, snaky, golden locks that came 
from skulls then "in the sepulchre." Hair taken from 
the living and the dead in South America and Mexico, 
still forms a large article of commercial import into 
Europe, where, by the coiffeurs', dyers', and perfumers' 
" cunning " it is changed into a variety of hues, and worn 
by women to whom nature has assigned but a small 



95 

quantity of hirsute decoration. Hair was also synony- 
mous with complexion, (metaphorically. ) In Henry IV 
occurs the expression, " the quality and hair of our at- 
tempt." "To be merry 'against the hair' was the equiv- 
alent of "against the grain." 

Halcyon. Calm ; like the kingfisher's period of incubation on 
the water. 

Hale. To drag away forcibly. 

Half caps. A cold courtesy. 

Half cheek. A profile. 

Half-faced. In profile ; insincere ; imperfect. 

Half-faced sun. The device of Edward III of England was 
a representation of the sun bursting through the clouds ; 
possibly a reference to the light suddenly cast on truth 
and Christianity by Wickliffe in that reign. 

Half kietles. Short cloaks. 

Halidom. An oath or adjuration, derived from an Anglo-Saxon 
expression equivalent to " By my sacrament !" 

Hall ! Make room ! 

Hallidon. Man's doom at the day of judgment. 

Hallowed. Made sacred. Trinkets touched by the reliques 
of a saint acquired a value when the Catholic priesthood 
governed the minds of the people. 

Hallowmas. All Saints' Day. At Hallow fair, near Edin- 
burgh, (Scotland.) and other places, a vast crowd usually 
assembled, and beggars found a fitting opportunity of 
procuring alms. 

Hamlet. Two plays with this title are still extant: one of 
them is spurious, though assigned to Shakespeare, the 
other genuine, and clearly the result of his own genius 
in working up old material. The following explanation 
is supplied by Mr. Richard Grant White, a distinguished 
American scholar and philologist : 

This is the story of the two Hamlets. Shakespeare, in 1599-1600, 
wrote his great tragedy, founding it upon the plot of an old play 
known as " The Kevenge of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark," which 
itself was founded on an old story told by Saxo Grammaticus. 
Shakespeare's play, produced in 1600, made such an impression 
upon gentle and simple, upon the highly-educated classes as well 
as upon the public in general, that it was acted not only in Lon- 
don, but at Oxford and Cambridge, and elsewhere. There was 



96 

an eager desire to read it ; but, according to the custom of the 
day, the text was jealously guarded by its theatrical proprietors. 
Under these circumstances, a piratical printer named James Rob- 
erts set himself to get for publication a copy of this wonderful 
play, which all the world was going to and talking of ; and natu- 
rally applying to the minor actors in Shakespeare's company, he 
succeeded in corrupting the man who played Voltimand, and in- 
duced him to undertake to get a copy. He, however, was able 
to get only fragments, great and small. Some parts of the play 
he gave from memory ; some he got by surreptitious examination 
of the stage copy and of actors' parts ; and all this being still not 
enough, James Roberts had some of the play taken down in 
shorthand during the performance, which was very lamely done. 
Some passages were taken from the old play, which had the same 
plot. This mass of heterogeneous stuff, some of it just what the 
author wrote, but the greater part of it what no dramatist ever 
wrote, was pieced and patched together, and hurriedly published, 
to the horror of William Shakespeare, and so much to the injury 
of the tragedy, as it was thought, that a " true and perfect copy," 
containing much that never at any time was heard on Shake- 
speare's stage, was immediately sent to the publisher, who soon 
issued it cured, and perfect of its limbs and absolute in its mem- 
bers, as it had been conceived by its great creator. 

The copy of the play now extant and cordially accepted 
as Shakespeare's is replete with evidences of his rare 
genius. The plot, the characters, and the dialogue are 
unmistakably the offspring of a dramatic power to which 
no one else of his or any other time could possibly lay 
claim. Much of the poetry, however, has been traced 
to other sources. Even the admired soliloquy on sui- 
cide beginning "To be or not to be " has an antique 
origin. Mr. Langhorn, in his translation of Plutarch's 
"Lives," shows that the speech in question was trans- 
lated almost verbatim from Plato. It is probably the 
reasoning of the old Greek philosopher in that disser- 
tation on self-murder which led Addison to put into the 
mouth of Cato (in the tragedy of that title) the speech 
beginning with the observation, " It must be so ; Plato, 
thou reasonest well," &c. Cato has been reading Plato; 
doubtless the soliloquy on self-murder. 

Hampton. Southampton, in Hampshire. 

Handed. Free or mischievous with the hand. 

Handsaw. See Hawk. 

Hangers. The supports of a sword. 



97 

Hannibal. A vulgar blunder for "cannibal." 

Hap. Chance ; fortune. 

Happily. Fortunately. 

Haply. Surely ; possibly ; perhaps. The word is modestly 
and diffidently used, and sometimes in the sense of 
" happily." 

Happy. Accomplished. 

Hammes Castle, in Picardy. 

Haebingee. A herald ; a sort of prognostic of events. 

Haed. Difficult. "I did full hard forbear him" — I could 
scarcely restrain my inclination to punish him. 

Haediment. Boldness ; bravery ; blows. 

Haelocks. Wild mustard. 

Haelot. A person of vagabond habits. 

Haelotey. Coarse ; vulgar ; immoral. 

Harp, v. To dwell upon; iterate; n., a "miraculous" instru- 
ment in the hands of Arion, which attracted the dolphins 
around his ship. 

Haepee. One of the familiar spirits of the weird "sisters 
three," at whose bidding those mysterious hags had to 
move. Paddock, the toad, and Graymalkin, the cat, 
had the same influence over them. 

Haepy. A fabulous, malignant object, supposed to be en- 
dowed with wings, claws, and offensive powers gener- 
ally. 

Haeeows. Subdues. 

Haeey. To worry. 

Haet. The buck or male deer. 

Hatch. " Take the hatch," {King John,) equivalent to remove 
a hedge or obstruction by, in sporting phrase, "taking 11 
it or leaping it. 

Hatched in silvee. An evident mistake for " thatched," in 
reference to the silver hairs which covered Nestor's 
head. 

Hatchment. A corruption of "achievement;" an armorial es- 
cutcheon representing the heraldic coat-of-arms of a 
deceased nobleman or other person of "quality." It is 
often placed on the facade of a house in England which 
has been recently vacated by the death of the noble 
occupant. 



98 

Haud credo. (Lat.) I do not believe. 

Haught. Haughty ; high, lofty in deportment and senti- 
ment. 

Haughty. High spirited. 

Haunt. A place of resort. 

Haunted. Disturbed by fancies. 

Have with you ! Come along ! 

Haver. Possessor. 

Ha ing. Property ; possessions. 

Havior. Behavior ; bearing. 

Havoc. An old Saxon war-cry, (Hafoc !) intimating that no 
quarter will be given or accepted in battle. 

Hawk. A bricklayer's hod for carrying bricks and mortar ; 
also, a bird of prey (a falcon) trained to hunt feathered 
game. 

Hawk. The passage in Hamlet, "when the wind is southerly 
I know a hawk from a handsaw/' (or hernshaw,) has 
been a source of serious trouble to innumerable stu- 
dents and annotators, because the hieroglyphical char- 
acter of Shakespeare's caligraphy has left it doubtful 
whether he wrote "handsaw" or "hernshaw." It is 
most likely that the latter word, meaning a young heron, 
was the one he used, judging from the context. In 
hawking, i. e., hunting the heron with the trained fal- 
con, the falconer would sometimes be dependent on the 
state of the atmosphere to distinguish between the hawk 
and its prey. In flying after the quarry the hawk would, 
of course, try to rise above the young heron or hern- 
shaw, (Walter Scott writes hernshew,) and the latter 
would naturally seek to prevent its being pounced upon 
were the antagonist uppermost. The circling manoeu- 
vres of the two birds when at a great distance from the 
earth, if the air were thick, made it a trouble to tell 
the "hawk. from the hernshaw," and hence the import- 
ance of a southerly wind. Hamlet would not have 
required any particular condition of the atmosphere to 
distinguish between two of a builder's tools. Besides, 
if " I know a hawk from a handsaw " were a common 
saying, it would be found in some of the works of Shake- 
speare's contemporaries, but it is not traceable in any of 
their dialogues. 



99 ' 

Foreigners who have attempted to translate Shakespeare 
invariably selected the bird (epervier) as the object of 
the proverb in preference to the conjectured implement. 

Hay. A term in fencing. 

Hazard. A part of a tennis-court into which a ball is cast. 

Head. A force ; a body of soldiers. "We'll save our heads 
by raising of a head." 

Head-lug, w.- To pull the hair. 

Heady. Violent ; fierce. 

Health, in its moral application, means that which is sound, 
of good purpose. We speak of the healthy tone of a 
book — a wholesome tone that recommends the work to 
our better sense. In Hamlet the " spirit of health " is 
antagonized with "the goblin damned" — the principle 
of good contrasted with the symbol of evil. 

Heat, v. To excite ; n., rage ; pursuit ; race. 

Heaven, Heavens. Employed in some cases as a substitute 
for " God Almighty ;" in others to represent the skies, 
the atmosphere. 

Hearts ! A familiar apostrophe in the mouths of rustics and 
other common people in Shakespeare's time. 

Hebenon. Henbane, a deadly poison. 

Hecate. The chief of the malevolent witches, represented in 
antique statues as a triple figure, bearing in her hands 
a snake, a dagger, a torch, and the key of Avernus. In 
As You Like It she is spoken of as the " thrice-crowned 
queen of Dight." 

Hedge. To proceed covertly ; to creep by the hedge instead 
of marching in the open road. 

Heed. Obstinate ; rash. 

Heels. To "layby the heels," or "punish of the heels," was 
a figurative and vulgar form of expressing a depriva- 
tion of the liberty of locomotion ; in other words, it 
meant sending a man to prison. 

Hefted. Heaved ; agitated ; delicately formed. 

Hefts. Things that have been thrown up by the agitation 
of the sea. 

Heir. Heirs and heiresses to estates were at one time at the 
disposal of the King. Gloster {Henry ~V") reproaches 
Edward for having given the daughter of Lord Scales 
to the brother of Lady Gray. 



100 

Helen's beauty — i. e., the beauty of Helen of Troy — is here 
contrasted with that of Cleopatra. The olive " brow of 
Egypt " was antagonized by the reputed fairness of the 
woman who enslaved Paris. (See Homer's Iliad.) It is 
a proof of the effect of love in disordering the fancy 
that one can see equal beauty in either form. Shake- 
speare has made little use of Helen as one of his dramatis 
personce. She only appears in one or two scenes in 
Troilus and Cressida. 

Helicons. A corruption of Heleconiades — the nine Muses. 

Hell. A dungeon. "Hollow hell," an old notion that the 
infernal regions were a vast hollow in the centre of the 
earth. 

Helm, v. To take the direction of any business. 

Helmed. Steered through. 

Hempen homespuns. This explains that the artisans were all 
weavers of hemp. 

Hence. Henceforward ; thereafter. 

Henchman. The squire, page, or other follower of a knight. 
Lord Byron (Don Juan) puts the word into the mouth 
of a robber addressing his comrade. 

Henky V. Few plays more emphatically display the strength 
and audacity of the English character than this noble 
drama. Its outline was borrowed from a poor thing of 
the time, called " The famous victories of Henry V." 

Henky VI. Of the three parts of this play, two at least were 
partially written by Greene, one of Shakespeare's con- 
temporaries. There was great difference in their re- 
spective styles, Greene wanting the virtue of simplicity 
and constantly making pedantic classical references with- 
out either taste or discretion. Shakespeare supplied all 
that was necessary to impart vigor and naturalness to 
the characters and true poetry to the dialogue. Parts 
of Henry VIII were in like manner contributed by 
Fletcher, the partner in dramatic authorship of Beau- 
mont. 

Hent. Seized ; take ; leap over. 

Heealdky. The science of blazonry — the decoration of lofty 
genealogy and knightly rank, comprised in a coat-of- 
arms, representing a shield, surmounted hj a crista or 



101 

crest, with figures as supporters, and, beneath, a scroll, 
bearing a motto descriptive of the family sentiment. 
Ich dien, " I serve," was the modest motto adopted by 
the Black Prince (son of Edward III) when he had 
scored his knighthood on the field of battle. 

Hekcules. The name used in connection " with his load " re- 
fers to Atlas, who bore the whole world on his shoulders. 

Hekculean Roman. A reference to Mark Antony's boast that 
he was descended from Hercules. 

Herb of grace. Roe 

Heresy. Opposition to and disbelief in a certain accepted form 
of religion. Roman Catholics denounced Protestants as 
" heretics," and Moslems have the same detestation of 
Christians. It is, in fact, odium, theologicum under sev- 
eral aspects. 

Hermes. Mercury, the messenger. 

Hermits. Beadsmen who lived in seclusion. 

Herne the hunter.* There was an oak in Windsor forest or 
park called " Heme's," because it was once peculiarly 
guarded by him as gate-keeper, and a superstition existed 
that after his death his spirit haunted the vicinity of 
the oak, and punished transgressors on the sacred spot. 

Herod. An extravagant hero of an old play. To " out-Herod 
Herod " was to exceed the character in rant and violence. 

Hereby. "That's hereby" — that depends on circumstances. 

Herring. See Shot ten Herring. 

Hesperus. The evening star. 

Hest. Behest ; command. 

Hey-day. The prime. 

Hibocrates. A Welsh mispronunciation of Hippocrates. 

Hie. See Hac 

Hie jacet. "Here lieth" — a frequent commencement of an 
inscription on a tombstone. 

Hide-fox. A children's game. 

High-day. A holiday, though not always a "holy" or saint's 
day. 

High-engendered. Begotten of Heaven ; the elements. 

High-fantastical. Very fanciful. ■ 

Hight. Called; named. 

High-tides. Solemn festivals. 



102 

High top-gallant. The summit of a top-gallant mast of a 
ship; a mast above the "gallant," which is immediately 
above the mainmast. 

High-wrought. Lifted up. 

Hild. Held. 

Hilding. A poltroon; a., paltry; cowardly. 

Hint. Suggestion. 

Hip. Amongst the Lancashire and Cornish wrestlers it was 
held to be an advantage to grip an adversary by the hip ; 
whence the phrase, "If I can catch him once upon the 
hip " — a queer expression in Shyloctts mouth. 

Hiren. A great part of the slang and braggart language of 
some of Shakespeare's characters must be conjectural. 
When .Pistol {Henry IV) says, "Have we not Hiren 
here?" it has been supposed that he was quoting from 
an old play called Irene, then acting, in which the fair 
Calipolis, to whom he alludes, is mentioned. But Pis- 
tol would hardly have used the word, as it was not 
applicable to the moment. Other commentators have, 
with greater reason, suggested that, as Pistol is flour- 
ishing his sword as he speaks, he means to say, "Have 
we not iron here?" Nym calls his sword his "iron." 
Falstaff speaks of his as a "toasting-iron." 

His. Often used for "its." 

His coctus. (Lat.) "These things are tormenting." 

Hit. To agree. 

Hoar. Aged; mouldy. 

Hoar-dock. A wild flower. 

Hoar-leaves. White leaves. 

Hobnob. A corruption of hap or nehap — " Come what may ;" 
"That depends on circumstances." A clinking together 
of wine or beer glasses in a toast, tete a tete, is called 
hobnobbing. 

Hobby-horse. In the character figured in an old rustic enter- 
tainment composed mainly of the Robin Hood family 
(Maid Marian, Friar Tuck, &c.) a mock horse was intro- 
duced, formed of basket-work, and borne by a man who 
seemed to bestride and give it motion ; but, after a time, 
this figure became an excrescence of the pageant, and was 
gradually discontinued; whence the line, ' ; The hobby- 



103 

horse is forgot." A hobby or hobby-horse also meant 
a person's fancy, and is still in use. 

Hobgoblins. Imps of darkness; creatures of a disordered 
fancy. 

Hoise. To hoist ; raise up. 

Hold, v. To esteem; interjec, hold! stop! stay! Also, to 
agree with ; maintain ; keep faith. 

Holding. The chorus or refrain in a glee. It originates in 
the suspension of the breath for a time. 

Hold-taking. Beer-handling. 

Holds on. Firmly maintains. 

Holiday. As applied to language, choice, select. 

Holla! An old term in equitation. 

Holp. Helped. 

Holmedon. On the Scottish border, the scene of a contest in 
the reign of Henry IV. 

Holykood day. The 14th September. A festal day in cele- 
bration of the recovery by the Emperor Heraclius of a 
piece of the Holy Cross, (rood,) which, 600 years after 
the death of Jesus Christ, was carried from Jerusalem 
by Cyrus, King of Assyria. 

Holy-water. In general acceptance, water that has been 
consecrated by a Roman Catholic priest. " Court holy- 
water,'" as used by the Fool in King Lear, implies a 
contrast to rain. 

Home. To the uttermost. 

Homely. Plain person ; uncultivated ; simple. 

Home-keeping. Untravelled; disinclined to travel abroad. 

Honesty. Truth; propriety; liberality. 

Honey. A preface to moral or personal sweetness; as, "honey 
heavy dew" — slumber as nice as honey and refreshing 
as dew; "honey sweet" — a term of endearment. 

Honey-seed. A corruption (Mrs. Quickly, passim) of homi- 
cide. 

Honey stalks. Red clover. 

Honey-suckle. A corresponding corruption of homicidal. 

Honi soit qui mal y pense. (Honi, the ancient Norman word 
for honte, shame.) "Shame, or evil, to him who think- 
eth evil of this" — a phrase embroidered on the Garter 
of the Order, (K. G.,) and encircling the English coat-of- 



104 

arms. It is said to have originated with Edward III, 
when he exhibited the garter which had fallen from the 
leg of the Countess of Salisbury, with whom His Maj- 
esty had been dancing. The exclamation, afterwards 
crystallized, happily deprecated unworthy suspicions of 
the lady's chastity. 

Honor. A courteous appellation. "Your honor;" "his honor." 

Honorable dangerous. Rather a comprehensive and convert- 
ible term. " There is honor in the danger ;" " there is 
danger in honorable work." 

Hood, n. The part of a cloak which covered the head. Worn 
at masquerades, it was called a domino — probably be- 
cause such cloaks and hoods were worn by Dominican 
friars and other monks. But the hood was not always 
regarded as a symbol of sanctity. Cucullus not facit 
monachum — "the hood does not make the monk" — 
passed into a proverb when the venality of the profes- 
sors of holiness in monasteries was exposed, v., to cover 
or hide. "I will hood mine eyes." It was likewise a 
term in falconry. The hawk's eyes were covered until 
the game was espied, when the hood was removed and 
the bird's legs loosened for night. Shakespeare uses it 
as a figure in Romeo and Juliet — "Hood my unmann'd 
blood bating in my cheeks ;" and Gratiano says he will 
" hood his eyes " with his hat daring divine service as 
an outward mark of respect and attention. 

Hoodman blind. The old appellation of "blindman's buff." 
Made blind by having a hood drawn over the head and 
eyes. 

Hooked nose. The ancient Roman nose. 

Hoops. Quart pots. 

Hop'd for day. A suggestion as to the importance of "mak- 
ing hay while the sun shines." 

Horn. It is typical at once of the grossness of the age and 
the incontinency prevailing in married circles in the six- 
teenth and seventeenth centuries, that this word should 
be so frequently employed by Shakespeare to indicate 
the risks which a man incurs in matrimony. The horns 
of a beast denote its promiscuous amours, and a man 
was said to have been cornuted (horned) when his wife 
had been, or was, unfaithful to her vows. 



105 

Horned moon. Shrewd attempts have been made to show a 
connection between this term and the lanthorn carried 
by the "man in the moon." {Midsummer -Night's 
Dream.) It is, however, a term of considerable antiquity, 
and refers to the crescent shape of the young moon. 
Robert Burns makes use of the idea in one of his songs : 
" It is the mune, I ken her horn." 

Horologe. A clock ; a time-piece indicating the hour. (Fi\, 
derived from Latin.) 

Hornpipe. A solo dance. 

Hot at hand. Under a slight restraint. 

Hot-house. A bagnio ; a house of ill-fame. 

How ? An idiomatic and elliptical use of the question, " How 
much 1 ?" or "What say you?" 

House. The etymon of " husband." 

Hox, (hough.) To hamstring. 

Hugger-mugger. Confused ; slovenly ; secretly. 

Hull. To float, without a rudder ; to sway ; to swing ; ships 
at anchor ; nautically, to lie to. 

Humming. Overwhelming. 

Humphrey hour. The hour when poor men "dined with 
Duke Humphrey '' — a proverbial expression denoting 
that when they had no means of procuring a dinner 
they were accustomed to promenade the aisle in St. 
Paul's Cathedral called " Duke Humphrey's walk." The 
Duke ( Gloucester) is represented in Henry VI (First 
Part) as a worthy nobleman, treacherously put to death. 

Humphrey. The name of an actor who played one of the park- 
keepers in Act 3, Henry VI 

Humble-bees. A modern writer points out that Shakespeare 
did not quite understand the economy of the bee. He 
pictures a colony of bees as a kingdom, with 

"A king and officers of sorts,'' 
(see Henry V,) whereas a colony of bees is an absolute 
democracy ; the rulers and governors and " officers of 
sorts." are the workers, the masses, the common people. 
A strict regard to i#ct also would spoil those fairy tapers 
in Midsummer -Night's Dream " — 

" The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees, 
And, for night-tapers, crop their waxen thighs, 
And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes," — 



106 

since it is not wax that bees bear upon their thighs, but 
pollen, the dust of the flowers, with which bees make 
their bread. Wax is made from honey. 
Humor. Fancy ; mood ; inclination ; idiosyncrasy ; disposi- 
tion ; a feeling that governs passion. Perhaps Ben Jon- 
son, who wrote an admirable comedy entitled " Every 
Man in his Humor," offers the best definition of the 
term : 

" When some one peculiar faculty 
Doth so possess a man that it shall draw 
All his effects, his spirits, and his powers 
In their complexions all to run one way, 
This may be truly said to be 'a humor. ' " 

Shakespeare illustrates and confirms this disposition in 
Shylock. The word "humor" is now popularly con- 
fined to a definition of drollery, wit, satire. 

Humorous. Damp ; humid. 

Hungry. Unprolific. 

Hungry beach. Sterile land near the sea. 

Hunt-counter. A worthless dog that cannot follow the scent ; 
also, a limb of the law attending the "compter," an 
ancient police station and magisterial court. 

Hunts up. A morning call ; a hunting 'reveillee. 

Hungarian. Not a native of Hungary, but, in the slang of 
the age, a term of contempt. 

Hurly-burly. Noise ; tumult. 

Hurt. Harm : injury. 

Hurtle. To dash against ; violent disturbance ; loud noise. 

Hurtling. Boisterous mirth. 

Husband, v. To marry ; care for. 

Husbandry Industry ; thrift. 

Huswife. A jilt ; a hussey. 

Hybla. Ancient writers affirm that a mountain of this name 
in Sicily was famous for the honey produced by the 
bees, which gathered their materiel from the flowers 
which grew on the mountain. 

Hydra. The many-headed monster which Hercules' slew. 

Hyrcanium. Of Hyrcania, a woody* country in Turkistan ; 
the eastern shore of the Caspian sea. 



107 



I. This vowel is often used by Shakespeare as a pun on 

" Ay " — yes — which corresponds with it in sound. 
Icebrook. Temper. 
Ides. A Roman division of months. The Ides fell on the 

15th March, May, July, and October. The other 

months were called Calends or Nones. 
Idle, ad. Barren; desert; silly, empty, as to speech; v., to 

waste time — do absolutely nothing. 
I' feeks. In faith! — an old ejaculation. 
Ignomy. Ignominy. 
Ilium. Priam's place of residence, as indicated in Homer's 

Iliad. 
Ill erected. Raised for evil purposes. 
Ill inhabited. Ill lodged. 
Illustrious. Without lustre, (or with !) 
Images. Children ; representatives. 
Imbar, or Imbare, v. To lay bare ; expose. 
Imagination. This quality " all compact " is derived from 

"antique fables, fairy toys, &c, &c." (See Theseus, 1st 

scene of Midsummer- NigMs Dream.) 
Imitari. Imitative. 
Immanity. Barbarity. 

Immediacy. Close connection ; superiority in rank and power. 
Immoment. Unimportant. 
Imp. A stripling; a diminutive demon; also, v., a term in 

falconry, to graft artificial feathers on the wing of a bird 

that has lost some of its plumage. 
Impair. Unsuitable ; unworthy. 
Impale. To encircle. 
Impartial. Partial. 
Impawn. To stake ; compromise. 
Impeachment. Impediment ; a reproach. 
Imperator. A great commander. 
Imperious. Imperial. 
Imperseverant. Dull of apprehension. 
Impertinency. Not relevant ; extraneous. 
Impetticose. To pocket. 
Impone. To wager, pledge, or pawn. 



108 

Importance. Importunity ; import. 

Impoktant. Importunate. 

Importing. Meaning ; significant. 

Importune. To urgently beg or entreat. In utterance, the 
accent is sometimes on the ultimate, sometimes on the 
penultimate, according to the measure of the line in 
which the word occurs. 

Impose. An injunction ; command. 

Imposition. A duty or condition imposed on one individual 
by another. 

Impossible. Incredible. 

Imposthume. An abscess "that inward breaks." 

Impout. Supply a deficiency. 

Imprese. A device with a motto attached. 

Impress, v. To press or force into the public service ; n., the 
heraldic motto on a coat-of-arms. 

Imprisoned angels. Money enclosed in a chest. Vide Angel. 

Incapable. Deficient of intelligence. 

In capite. (Lat.) In chief ; a term in law signifying a king's 
claim to a subject's fealty or his head ; literally, in mod- 
ern times, a capitation tax. 

Incarnadine. To dye a red color. 

Incensed. Informed; instructed; instigated. 

Inch-meal. Doled out by inches. 

Incision. The proposal of the Prince of Morocco {Merchant 
of Venice) to bleed himself simply to show that his 
blood was as red as that of any of the other suitors of 
Portia was characteristic of the African. The practice 
of wounding themselves in proof of what they would 
readily undergo for the woman of their choice and affec- 
tion is common also among certain classes of Asiatics. 

Inclining. Compliant; following; alliance. 

Inclip. To embrace. 

Include. To conclude. 

Inclusive. Enclosed. 

Incompt. Subject to account. 

Incony. Delicate; pretty; unknown; ignorant. 

Incorrect. Ill regulated. 

Incontinently. Immediately. 

Inde. Shakespeare knew but little of India, (naturally,) or 



109 

he would not have classed her intelligent people with 
'"savages." 

Indent. To sign a contract ; to temporize. 

Incorporate. United in one body. 

Index. Prologue; indication. 

Indifferent. Tolerably; impartial. 

Indirectly. Opposed to the direct and straightforward. 

Indigest. Confused; chaotic. 

Indirection. Irregularly; dishonestly. 

Indite. To convict. 

Inducement. Companionship and example. 

Induction. Preparation; commencement; prologue. 

Indurance. Delay. 

Inequality. Of inferior rank. 

Infected. Poisoned. 

Infer. To report. 

Infinite. Extent or power. 

Informal. Deranged. 

Ingraft. Grafted. 

Inhabitable. Uninhabitable. 

Ingaged. Unengaged. 

Inherit. Possess; adopt. 

Inhibit. To prevent ; forbid ; decline. The passage in Mac- 
beth, "If, trembling, I inhibit thee," has given rise to 
much feeble and useless discussion. It seems clear from 
the context that Macbeth dares Banquets Ghost to fight 
with him. He will not "inhibit" or prevent the action 
of the Ghost. 

Inhibition. A euphuism for "prevention;" stoppage, or prohi- 
bition. 

Inhooped. Caged. The Romans delighted in cock or quail 
fights, and to prevent the birds from getting away dur- 
ing a contest they enclosed them in an arena formed of 
iron hoops. 

Inkle. A kind of narrow tape. 

Iniquity. Another appellation of the Vice or Harlequin in the 
old Moralities. Prince Henry calls Falstaff a "grey- 
beard iniquity" a "reverend vice." 

In good time. A propos y "a la bonne heure y" a fortunate 
moment; "all right." 



110 

Initiate. Young. 

Inkhorn. A horn usually suspended to the button-hole of 
the coat of book-worms to hold ink for immediate use ; 
whence the term "inkhorn mate" came to be scornfully 
applied to a pedant or a student at the book-stalls. 

Inland. Civilized — in contradistinction to the people dwell- 
ing on the sea-coast, where education was rarely obtained. 

In little. A miniature likeness. It is on this reference to 
the sums people were said by Hamlet to be ready to 
pay for portraits of his father that the conjecture has 
been hazarded that the Prince should carry a minia- 
ture suspended from his neck, while the Queen wears 
that of her husband, the King de facto. But the de- 
scription which Hamlet gives of his father's "station," 
like " the herald Mercury on a heaven-kissing hill," would 
seem to destroy the notion that the portrait could be 
represented in a miniature. Equally objectionable is 
the idea that the portraits of the two kings appear on 
the arras, for there was no scenery employed at the 
theatre in Shakespeare's time in which such paintings 
could have been given. The whole speech, describing 
the deceased as embodying the forms of all the gods, is 
probably founded on the objects pictured to Hamlet's 
imagination alone. 

Inly. Inward. 

Inn of court. Colleges and lodgings for law students, pre- 
sided over by special law societies. Young barristers 
in England are said to be "entered" of a certain inn of 
court, of which there are four in the city of London. 

Innocent, n. An idiot. 

I'th'. Brief for "in the." 

In place. Present. 

Inquisition. A court of inquiry ; an examination. 

Insane. A cause of insanity. 

Insconced. Fortified. 

Insculped. See Angel. 

Insinuation. Interference in any matter. 

Insistence. Persistence. 

Instance. Intelligence ; suggestion ; proof, in evidence. 

Instances. Proverbs ; motions ; purposes and action. 



Ill 

Insuppressive. Incapable of suppression. 

Inseparate. Inseparable. 

Insuit. Solicitation. 

Integrity. Consistency; completeness. 

Intend. Pretend; purpose. 

Intending. Regarding; pretending. 

Intendment. Intention. 

Intention. Eager desire. 

Intentively. Attentively. 

Intents. Purposes; endeavors. 

Interres'd. Interested. 

Inter'gatories. An abridgment of interrogatories — a law term 
used in setting forth the details of an examination. 

Intermission. Pause; hesitation. 

Intervallums. Pauses; intervals. 

Intrenchant. Intrenchment ; what cannot be cloven. 

Intrinse. Intricate. 

Intrinsic ate. Intricate. 

Investing. Clothing. 

Investments. White "investments" constituted the robes or 
rochet of bishops. 

Invincible. Not to be computed. 

Invites nubibus. (Lat.) "The unwilling clouds." 

Inward. Intimate. 

Inward motion. Intellectual faculty. 

Inwardness. Intimacy. 

Ira furor brevis est. (Lat.) "Anger is brief madness." 

Iris. The colors of the rainbow. "They round the eye" 
when it has been wetted with tears. (All's Well that 
Ends Well.) It is also the name of the rainbow as 
Jove's messenger. 

Irish rats. These animals, having no taste for music or 
poetry, were, it was thought, to be got rid of by hum- 
ming an old tune. * 

Irks. Annoys; distresses. 

Iron. Clad in armor. 

Irregulous. The reverse of regular and good, morally and 
materially. 

Issue. Result or termination. 

Iterance. Iteration; repetition. 



112 



Iteration. Recitation. 
Ivy. See Bush. 



Jack. A common fellow ; a knave. " Playing the jack with 
us" corresponded with "playing us knavish tricks." 
In a pack of cards one of the court or trump cards, 
called the "jack," is S3 r nonymous with "knave." 

Jack. A small bowl in a game of bowls. 

Jacks. Contemptible swaggerers. 

Jack and Jill. Generic titles for a man and a woman asso- 
ciated. 

Jack-guardent. A jack in office. 

Jack o 'lent. A puppet thrown at by boys for sport during 
Lent. The term was also brief for "jack o' lantern," 
the ignis fatu us which floats over marshy land, mislead- 
ing "night wanderers." 

Jack o' the clock. A little figure on a clock, which seems 
mechanically to strike the hour. 

Jacob's staff. Shylock, swearing by this, refers to the pas- 
sage in the Bible, "With roy staff," &c. Gen. xxxii, 
verse 10. 

Jade. A worthless woman ; a worn-out horse. 

Jaded. Fatigued ; mastered ; bullied ; n., a jaded groom 
meant a low fellow. 

Jakes. A place of necessary resort. 

Janus. A myth ; an inferior deity represented with two faces 
to indicate the possession of the faculty of beholding at 
once the past, the present, and the future. Iago ( Othello) 
and Gratiano {Merchant of Venice) swear by Janus for 
no other apparent reason that it was, and is, the prac- 
tice of the Italians, though chiefly Roman Catholics, to 
invoke one of the heathen gods. Per Glove I Corpo di 
Bacco ! (by Jove! by the body of Bacchus!) are con- 
stantly on their lips. 

Jangling. Harsh ; out of tune. 

Jar. The tick of a clock. 

Jars. Quarrels ; differences. 

Jauncing. Rough riding. 

Jaundice. A disease which, arising from an excess of bile, 
turns the skin yellow. 



113 

Jay. A loose woman. The Italians use the word putta or 
puth to indicate a harlot ; but the word likewise applies 
to a bird of the crow family. 

Jeronimy. A corruption of Hieronymus, the hero of a Span- 
ish tragedy, who uses words corresponding with those 
of the Spanish. 

Je pense. (Fr.) "I think." 

Scene feom Henry V, Act IV. 

French Soldier. Je pense que vous estes le gentilhomme de bonne 
qualitc 1 . 

T believe that you are a gentleman of good quality. 

French Soldier. O Seigneur Dieu ! 

Lord God ! 

French Soldier. O prennez misericorde ! ayez pitie de moy ! 

be merciful! Have pity on me! 

French Soldier. Est-il impossible d'eschapper la force de ton bras ? 

Is it impossible to escape the strength of your arm ? 

French Soldier. O pardonnez moy! 

forgive me! 

Boy. Escoutez ; comment estes vous appelle ! 

Listen ! How are you called ? — i. e., what is your name ? 

French Soldier. Monsieur le Fer. 

French Soldier. Que dit-il, monsieur ? 

What does he say, sir f 

Boy. II me commande de vous dire que vous faites vous prest ; car 
ce soldat icy est dispose tout a cette heure de couper vostre gorge. 

He commands me to tell you to get ready, for this soldier is disposed to 
immediately cut your throat 

French Soldier. O je vous supplie pour l'amour de Dieu, me par- 
donner ! Je suis gentilhomme de bonne maison ; gardez ma vie et je 
vous donneray deux cents escus. 

Oh, I beg of you for the love of God to forgive me. I am a gentleman 
of a good family {house.) Spare my life, and I will give you two hun- . 
dred crowns. 

French Soldier. Petit monsieur, que dit-il ? 

Little gentleman, what says he ? 

Boy Encore qu'il est contre son jurement de pardonner aucun 
prisonnier ; neanmoins, pour les escus que vous l'avez promis, il est 
contentde vous donner la liberte, le franchisement. 

Again, that it is contrary to his oath to pardon {liberate) any prisoner; 
nevertheless, for the crowns that you have promised him, he is content to 
give you liberty — enfranchisement. 

French Soldier. Sur mes genoux je vous donne mille remerciemens ; 
et je m'estime heureux que je suis tombe entre les mains d'un chevalier, 
je pense, leplus brave, valliant, et tres distingue seigneur d'Angleterre. 

On my knees I give you a thousand thanks ; and I esteem myself 
10 



114 

happy that I have fallen into the hands of a knight who, I think, is the 
bravest, most valiant, and distinguished nobleman of England. 

Boy. Suivez vous le grand capitaine. 

Follow the great captain. 

Jephthah. The reference to the " Judge of Israel " and his 
daughter in Hamlet springs from the fact of the mel- 
ancholy story having formed the subject of an ancient 
and popular ballad as well as a fact in Scripture. 

Jerkin. A short frock, sometimes made of leather and wadded. 
What Stephano ( Tempest) means is a problem. He may 
refer to the practice (nearly extinct) on board ship of 
shaving a man as the vessel crosses the equinoctial line, 
or to the removal of the hairy skin which covers Caliban. 

Jerusalem. It had been prophesied that if Henry IV carried 
out his purpose of heading a crusade to Palestine, he 
would die in Jerusalem. Nominally to fulfil the predic- 
tion, he retires to the Jerusalem chamber in his palace 
that he may die there. 

Jesses. The ligature by which the hawk in falconry is at- 
tached to the wrist of the falconer. The jesses were 
loosened when the bird was dispatched after the quarry. 

Jest. To take part in an entertainment. 

Jet. In walking, to strut 

Jewel. See Toad. 

Jewess' eye. An organ capable of appreciating a handsome 
Christian. 

Jigging. Dancing ; rhyming. 

Jig maker. The author of a low class of song. 

Jill. A young woman ; a drinking measure. 

John a Dreams. A current designation of a heavy, dull sort 
of person. It is vain to attempt to trace the origin of 
this and other of the obsolete nicknames in Shakesj)eare. 

John Drum. John, or Jack, in Tom Drum's entertainment, 
is recorded to have been derived from a farce in which 
Drum is represented as an intriguing servant who con- 
stantly gets into scrapes. The personal servant or valet 
of a gentleman is the scamp and scapegoat of many 
dramas of all nations, as Martin, (Fr.,) Leporello, (Sp.,) 
Figaro, (Ital.,) &c. 

John — " King John." This play was obviously founded on an 
older one called " The troublesome reign of King John." 



115 

Joint ring. Two rings joined together, illustrative of the 
close tie of affection. See Gimmal. 

Journal. Daily. 

Jovial. Pertaining to Jove. 

Jowls. Thrown down ; cast out. 

Joy. To enjoy. 

Judas. In old paintings the betrayer is always represented 
with red hair. 

Judicious. Critical ; capable of judgment. 

Julius C^sar. This interesting play, which follows the his- 
tory of the close of Csesar's life with considerable accu- 
racy, was, in all likelihood, borrowed from Plutarch. 
In that event it is singular that no mention is made by 
Plutarch of the dying exclamation of the great soldier — 
"J&t tu, Brute /" — if, indeed, he ever did utter the words. 
At any rate, his surprise at being assailed by the man 
he so deeply loved must have been felt, if not verbally 
expressed ; and on this point Plutarch is exact and de- 
scriptive. 
It was a saying in the sixteenth century that there were 
two Charles V: one made by nature and one by Titian. 
Perhaps the same thing might be said of every histor- 
ical personage that Shakespeare has delineated. There 
are two : one presented by history and one by Shakes- 
peare. In nearly every instance his sketches are what 
we would term historically correct, so far as a strict 
adherence to historical statement of facts can make 
them so ; but they are so much more than historically 
correct ; they are so wondrously life-like. History gives 
us but a mere outline of any particular character. We 
are too apt to have the picture only in the silhouette 
form — either all light or all shadow. Seldom indeed do 
we know these historical personages as simple men or 
women. As presented by the partisan chronicler, they 
appear either a little less or a little more than human. 
It requires the genius of Shakespeare to breathe into 
these images the breath of life, and make of them men 
and women whom we know to be of like passions with 
ourselves, and whom, therefore, we can comprehend and 
love. The play of Julius Ccesar is a good illustration 



116 

of this. Who but Shakespeare could have placed com- 
mon-place people of the nineteenth century so thor- 
oughly in sympathy with an age utterly unlike our own? 
An age in which everything was in extremes, when there 
were no quietists and positively no moderate men, would 
be most enigmatical for us were it not for that revivify- 
ing genius which has brought it back within the realms 
of the real. What he has done for the age itself he has 
done pre-eminently for the man Julius Caesar. 
History presents Caesar to us as a general, or an intriguer 
for power only. We see him simply as he poses for the 
public eye ; we know what he said on this occasion and 
what he did on that. But it was reserved for Shakes- 
peare to tell us what he was and how he felt ; to make 
our actual acquaintance with him as a man a possibility. 
In every history of Caesar, including his own commen- 
taries, he appears like some gigantic shadow ; and his 
figure is impressive indeed, but somewhat vague. How 
completely is all this changed when the magic wand of 
Shakespeare touches him; that touch is his accolade. 
At once and forever he is received into the full dignity 
and vivid reality of his order; he is made a man, and 
we know him almost as we know one another. But for 
Shakespeare's clear-cut picture of him, we should never 
have known and felt for Caesar as we now do. By that 
indefinable faculty of sympathy which he possessed in 
such an eminent degree, Shakespeare had the ability to 
throw himself completely into whatever character he 
was describing. Given the natural disposition and sur- 
roundings of a man, he knew intuitively just what that 
man would feel or say or do on any special occasion, 
because he knew what he himself would do if similarly 
placed. It was not so much a projecting of himself 
into the character as it was allowing the character to 
take complete possession of him, for his self-con scious- 
ness is so utterly lost in the intensity of his sympathy 
that there is absolutely nothing subjective in his repre- 
sentations. .For the time being Shakespeare has no 
independent existence, but is the man or woman he por- 
trays. We do not discover him behind the mask, for 



117 

there is no mask; his characters are living, breathing 
men and women. We never see him in &uy play he has 
written ; for the moment he is Lear, Othello, or Ccesar. 
So it is that they appear to us as veritable flesh and 
blood, not merely as soulless tenements of painted dust. 
It is Shakespeare who makes us see "the angry spot 
that glows on Caesar's brow. 1 ' The little fact of Ccesar' 8 
partial deafness is impressed upon us : "Come upon my 
right side, for this ear is deaf." We see him a man of 
"feeble temper," a victim of epilepsy, foaming at the 
mouth and speechless. Later we see him drinking wine 
with his friends, and joking with his reckless favorite, 
Antony. We see him donning his robe, that robe which 
we learn to love and almost regard as a sentient thing, 
when Antony tells us "through this rent the well- 
beloved Brutus stabbed." 
So much for the outward man so vividly presented ; but 
our insight goes much deeper, for Shakespeare shows 
us the man's mind as historians never do. He is sus- 
picious: "Yond' Cassius has a lean and hungry look; 
he thinks too much. Such men are dangerous." He 
is public-spirited: "What touches us ourselves shall be 
last served." He is superstitious: "What say the au- 
gurers?" "Thrice hath Calphurnia in her sleep cried 
out. Help! ho! they murder Caesar!" He is polite: "I 
thank you for your pains and courtesy ; I am to blame 
to be thus waited for." He is positive: "Know Caesar 
doth no wrong. Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?" 
He is philosophical and somewhat of a fatalist, as per- 
sons who think deeply are apt to be: "What can be 
avoided whose ends are purposed by the mighty gods?" 
"Death, the necessary end, will come when it will come." 
He is brave and full of a sublime faith in himself: 
" The things that threatened me ne'er looked but on my 
back." "Wilt thou lift up Olympus?" "Always I am 
Caesar." And, alas! he was ambitious: "He put the 
coronet by ; but, for all that, he would fain have had 
it." By such inimitable touches does Shakespeare pre- 
sent to us the man Ccesar as history can never do. Our 
wonder is enhanced when we remember that such noble 



US 

work is done for a character subordinate in the play, for 
Ctesar is far from being the hero, Antony and Brutus 
both being much more prominent, and Brutus unques- 
tionably the author's favorite, "the noblest Roman of 
them all." 

Jump, v. To guess ; suppose ; to agree with ; to dispense 
with ; shorten ; pass over ; ad., coincident ; correspond- 
ing with. 

Jure. To swear on oath. 

Justicee. A judge. 

Jut, or Jet. A projection — whence "jetty;" v., to throw; 
encroach ; " collide with." 

Juvenal. A youth. 

K 

Kaiser. Caesar. 

Kam. Kim-kam ; all awry. 

Karrack. An Italian merchant ship. 

Kicksey. Hemlock. 

Keech. A lump of lard or fat. 

Keel. To cool. 

Keep. To dwell; reside; entertain. 

Keep house. Stop at home. 

Keeper. A park or game-keeper. 

Kendal green. A cloth manufactured at Kendal, in West- 
moreland. 

Kent. A midland county in England. It has always enjoyed 
credit for the fertility of the soil and the gallantry of 
the men ; wherefore Gcesar extolled it. 

Kernes. Stanislaus, who describes the Kerne as armed with 
sword and target, says: "The word Kern signifies a 
shower of hell, because the Kernes were taken for no 
better than rakehells, or the Devil's blackguards." The 
mercenaries of this appellation who served in wars were 
from the north of Ireland and the western highlands of 
Scotland. 

Kersey. An old woollen garment. 

Kibe. A sore on the heel ; a chilblain. 

Kickshaws. A corruption of quelque chose, (Fr., "some- 
thing.") Trifles; side dishes; condiments; anything. 



119 

Kicky wicky, or Kicksy wicks y. Applicable to a jade, whether 
horse or woman. 

Killingworth. The old name of "Kenilworth." 

Kiln-hole. The ash-hole beneath a kiln ; also, the chimnej 7 - 
corDer; a gossiping place. 

Kin. When Hamlet, commenting aside on the King's calling 
him his "cousin and his son," says, "A little more than 
kin and less than kind,'' he probably means that the 
King has got a little beyond the n in "kin" without 
reaching the d in "kind." 

Kind. Nature ; of the same nature. 

Kindle. To bring forth young animals ; to urge ; egg on. 

Kindless. Unnatural. 

Kindly. Naturally. 

Kinged. Ruled by a monarch. 

Kirtle. A jacket and mantle in one piece, sometimes with 
and sometimes without sleeves. 

Kitchen- malkin. Scullion ; kitchen w T ench. See Malkin. • 

Knacks. Knick-knacks. See Gawds, &c. 

Knap. To snap ; break short off. 

Knave. A servant; a rogue. To "bear the knave" is to sub- 
mit to being called by opprobrious names. The word 
was also used in a friendly sense, as "honest knaves." 

Knee. To bow down in homage. "Knee his throne." (King 
JLear.) "Knee the way into his mercy." (Coriolanus.) 

Knives. When guests were invited to a banquet in remote 
times, each man took his own knife with him. (See 
Timon of Athens.) The practice is perpetuated in the 
Highland costume, the knife being worn in the hose. 

Knock it. Expressive of orchestral music, as now familiarly 
called "playing up " " Let the music knock it." 

Knot. A gang ; a combination. 

Knots. Flowers planted in box, to form a cluster. 

Knot grass. A herb that was, in former times, supposed to 
have the property of checking the growth of a child to 
whom it might be given as food. 

Know. To acknowledge. 

Knowing. Accomplishment; attainment. 

Know of. To reason ; consider. 



120 

Kybe, or Kibe. An ulcerated chilblain, or a sore on the heel. 

Key-cold. An iron key retains its surface temperature long- 
after its application to a warm body. The intensity is 
of service, if applied to the spine, in stopping hemor- 
rhage. The cold operates on the nervous system. 

Label. Bond; confirmation. 

Labias. A slender fist; also, "lips." 

Laced mutton. A gross term for a loose woman. 

Lackeying. Behaving obsequiously. 

Lade. To drain earth dry. 

La fin couronne le tout, ou les ceuvres. (Fr.) "The end 
crowns all, or all works." 

Lag. The rabble; ad., slow; late. 

Lakin. Lady kin. "By'r Lakin," or "By our Lady Kind," 
* was a common form of adjuring the Holy Virgin. 

Lambkins. Young sheep. 

Lammas-tide. The month of August. 

Lampedusa. In a brochure, long since forgotten, one Joseph 
Hunter, an antiquarian, endeavored to show that this 
little island in the Mediterranean was the one selected 
by Shakespeare for the abode of Prospero. (Tempest.) 

Lances. Men bearing spears. 

Land-dam. A process of stopping the flow of water, and a 
phrase for making a place too hot for an offender against 
usage. 

Land rakers. Travellers afoot. 

Lane. The "'strait lane," the locality of the retreat of Cym- 
beline's army before the Roman, affords the occasion for 
a description by Posthumus of the heroic deeds of Bela- 
rius and his two putative sons, which, though imaginary, 
finc^s its parallel in the defence of the bridge by Hora- 
tius, and later in the repulse of three thousand Russian 
troopers by three hundred British cavalry at Balaklava. 
When soldiers are "confident in act" they perform 
prodigies of valor. Marathon and Thermopylae are 
cases in point 

Lapsed. Apprehended ; made prisoner. 



121 

Lapwing. A bird that has the credit of being able, by its pe- 
culiar cry, to lead people from the vicinity of its nest. 

Lard. To decorate ; grease ; fertilize. 

Large. Free ; wanton. 

Largesse. Bounty. 

Lass lorn. Forsaken by one's mistress. 

Latch, or Catch. To lay hold of ; to smear. From licher, 
(Ft.) 

Latched. Closed up. 

Lated. Belated ; benighted. 

Late. Lately. 

Latruite. See Truite, (Fr.) 

Latten. Thin as a lath. 

Laugher. A jester, or a person easily moved to mirth. 

Launch. Lance. 

Laund. A plain lying between two forests. 

Launde. A lawn. 

Laundering. Wetting ; washing. 

Lavolta. (Ital.) A dance, of which leaping or up-springing 
was a feature. 

Law of arms. Down to the middle of the 16th century, men 
settled their disputes in a combat, but the authority of 
the King was necessary before a " trial by battle " could 
take place. In a case where one man accused another 
of a crime, the death of the vanquished (accused) in a 
combat was held to have proved his guilt. 

Law of Heraldry. Law and proclamation. The legal com- 
pact as sealed, certified, and publicly advertised. 

Lear. Unquestionably the finest and most affecting of the 
plays of Shakespeare. Nowhere has Shakespeare shown 
greater creative power than in that weird, crazed old 
man, Lear. He had only to paint melancholy in his 
Hamlet, jealousy in Othello, and avarice in Shy lock, and, 
with Lear, the picture w r as complete. In Lear, we see 
a combination of as varied passions as there are dif- 
ferent emotions in the human heart. Now Pity looks 
down upon us from the canvas, then Revenge, here 
Pride, there Humility, sometimes Love, oftener Hate, 
all setting off the face of an old man, appalling in its 
agony, and terrible in its madness. 
11 



122 

It is in the supernatural Lear that Shakespeare displays 
his wonderful genius. The man loses his identity, and 
becomes a god — a raving fury. Who would not sooner 
meet Mars himself than that raving, old, nlaltreated King, 
with his streaming hair, grizzly countenance, and ghostly 
eyes, wandering over that lonely heath, as he is pelted 
by hail, and blown about by the wind and rain, crying 
in his maniacal voice, " Spit fire ! spout rain ! singe my 
whitehead?" 

Pandemonium itself could not exhibit so hideous a pic- 
ture as that muddy hut and its surroundings, nor the 
infernal council so diabolical a phantasm as the " mock 
trial." The supernatural in Milton's Satan was pro- 
duced as much by his appearance as his sentiments. 
We see him 

''■ Prone on the flood, extended long and large, and hear his voice 
Call so loud that all the hollow deep of hell resounded," 

while Lear is nowhere described, and his voice some- 
times sounds like falling leaves, often like a child's 
prattle, and again like rolling thunder. The super- 
natural in Satan is seen in his entrance into Pandemo- 
nium, his encounter with Sin and Death, his journeys 
through chaos, and his battle with the angels. Lear 
and Satan ! alike, yet unlike, human, yet superhuman, 
must ever be regarded as the sublimest conceptions of 
their kind in fiction. 
One of the many writers of modern times, himself pre- 
eminent for critical discernment and good taste, thus 
writes of the play : 

The noble tragedy of "King Lear" has long stood, by the unani- 
mous judgment of critics, pre-eminent for sublimity and pathos, 
among the majestic creations of Shakspere's mighty mind. The 
subject of this drama is drawn from a period far removed among 
the mists of antiquity, and obscured by the shadows of legend 
and tradition — an age of heathenism aud barbarism. And yet, 
with the rough stones hewn out of this rude quarry, the master- 
mason has constructed a shapely and imposing edifice, which has 
been the delight of all the generations of worshippers that have 
crowded the shrines of his genius. 

The dependency of genius upon antecedent laborers to provide it 
with the raw material to be woven into its wondrous fabrics 
has been frequently illustrated in literary history, but in no case 



123 

more clearly than in the history of this particular play of Shake- 
speare's. 
The original of the story is found in Geoffrey of Monmouth, an old 
Welsh chronicler, who, during the twelfth century, occupied the 
leisure of his convent-life in recording, in his monkish Latin, 
the legendary narrations which had been compiled by an un- 
known predecessor, in the Welsh tongue, from oral traditions 
and ballads and such sources, and entitled the " Chronicle of the 
Kings of the Isle of Britain." 

Lege Domine. (Lat.) Read, my Lord. Dominus (house- 
holder, master, lord) was with our forefathers an hono- 
rary prefix corresponding to the modern Mr. (which is 
also Latin, viz : magister, syncopated to mayster, mai- 
stre, master, mister,) and applied to persons of considera- 
tion. In the fourteenth century it was abbreviated to 
Danz and Dan. The now universal Mr. has finally ex- 
pelled its rival Dan. In Portuguese and in Spanish, on 
the contrary, it is dominus that has triumphed, remain- 
iog in those languages as the ordinary prefatory titles 
of respect, Dom and Don. The use of Dan by the 
English as a complimentary prefix continued even lo 
the beginning of the Elizabethan era, for we find Spencer 
calling Chaucer " Dan Geoffrey,' 1 and the Earl of Surrey, 
in the reign of Henry VIII, wrote of " Dan Homer." 

Lay, n. A wager ; a bet ; a stake ; ad., one of the laity. 

Lay by ! The challenge of highwaymen to passengers to 
" stand and deliver," and remain quiet while they were 
being robbed of their property. 

Lazar-like. Covered with tatters and sores like Lazarus — the 
result of poison. Shakespeare seems to have been fa- 
miliar with the variety of poisons used by the Italians. 
He lived in an age when poisons were in frequent use 
for deadly purposes. 

League, Leaguer — from the German " Lager " — a besieging 
camp. 

Learn. To teach or learn. 

Lease. To lie. 

Leash. Leading- string. 

Leasing. Speaking falsely. 

Leather-coats. Russet apples. 

Leathern jerkin. A jacket or doublet of buff leather. With 
the addition of crystal buttons the garment was much 
fancied by persons of the middle class. 



124 

Leavened. Matured. 

Le cheval volant. (Fr.) The flying horse. 

Leech. A surgeon addicted to phlebotomizing his patients. 

Leer. Complexion ; look. 

Leets. Courts of law for periodical adjudications in small 
cases. 

Leer-look. Not always immodest. 

Leg. Obeisance. 

Legerity. Alertness ; light and sprightly. 

Leges. Alleges. 

Leiger. An Envoy Extraordinary ; a distant Ambassador. 

Le jour est perdu. (Fr.) The day is lost! 

Leman. A mistress ; a paramour. 

Lend. Impart ; to lend a grace was understood to confer 
one ; also, to listen ; attend. 

Leno. A pander. 

Leonatus. Sprung from a lion. 

Lenten. Poor fare ; such as is supposed to distinguish fast- 
ing days during Lent. 

Lenten pie. A game pie. 

L'Envoy. Literally a message, but usually employed at the 
close of a book, either as a complimentary dedication 
or as descriptive of the purpose of the work. It 
forms the "moral" of French ballads or songs. 

Lepidus. This triumvir was a man of weak intellect, held in 
contempt by Mark Antony. (Julius Ccesar.) His im- 
becility is the subject of quiet ridicule by the Romans 
who accost him on his return from Egypt. (Antony 
and Cleopatra.) 

Let. To hinder. 

Let, v. To stop ; stay. 

Le Roy. (Le Roi, Fr.) The king. 

Lethe. The stream which effaced the past from the mem- 
ory of those who bathed in its waters. 

Letter. Recommendation to favor. 

Letters patent. An official document conveying a privi- # 
lege or conferring rank. 

Leviathan. The monster of the deep alluded to in the 
Bible — whether a whale or a sea-serpent is unknown. 
Possibly a shark, because alleged to be carnivorous ; the 
whale cannot swallow a human being. 



125 

Letched. Licked over. 

Level. A direct line. 

Lewd. Idle ; knavish. 

Lewdsters. Disreputable persons. 

Levy. To raise ; recruit a force. 

Leopards. A crest in heraldry. It was the crest of the House 
of Howard, and in ancient representations of English 
heraldry the lion passant gardant was so like a leopard 
that the idea prevailed that it was the Royal crest also. 
But in the middle of the fifteenth century the idea was 
dissipated and the Lion was the acknowledged English 
crest. Shakespeare makes Richard II speak of the lion 
as the emblem of English sovereignty — " Lions make 
leopards tame," — but as Richard reigned in the four- 
teenth century the allusion is anachronic. Napoleon I, 
who did not relish the application of any superior at- 
tribute to Great Britain, always spoke of his British ad- 
versaries as " les leopard sy 

Level. To aim ; guess ; an object aimed at. 

Libbard. The leopard. 

Liberal. Too free ; licentious. 

Liberty. Libertinism. 

License. Licentiousness. 

Lichas. The page of Hercules, as Alcides. 

Lief. " As lief ;" as soon as ; as readily as. 

Liefest. Dearest. 

Lies. Besides ; abides. 

Leiger. A resident ; an ambassador. 

Liegemen. Men who had vowed allegiance to the sovereign. 
" My Liege " was often used for " Your Majesty." 

Lieu. *(Fr.; In place of. 

Lieutenantry. Perfunctorily ; working by a deputy. 

Life. See "Wife." 

Lifter. A thief Now confined in use to one who slyly 
steals in a shop ; a " shop-lifter ; " a person addicted to 
kleptomania. 

Lightly. Commonly ; ordinarily ; of little value. 

Light o' love. The title of an old tune. 

Like and Unlike. To compare. 

Likelihood. Similitude ; promising. 



120 

Liking. Condition of the body. 

Likeness. Specionsness ; appearance. 

Likes me. Pleases me. 

Lily livered. White livered ; cowardly. 

Limander. An illiterate artist's blunder for Leander, who 
swam across the Hellespont to visit Helen of Sestos. 

Limbeck. The vessel which receives the vapor or steam of 
distilled liquors. 

Limbo patrum. A place of temporary confinement in purga- 
tory, for the especial benefit of the clergy of the Bomish 
Church, until their release on the day of judgment. 

Lime. Cement ; also, one kind of lemon ; likewise, a sub- 
stance used to catch birds with, for which purpose 
branches are smeared with it. 

Limed. Caught with bird-lime. 

Limited. Appointed. 

Limits. Estimates. 

Line. To strengthen. 

Lined, or Limn'd. Delineated. 

Linstock, or Lint-stock. Before portfires or gunlocks were 
invented, twisted cotton rope attached to a stick formed 
the match used for igniting the gunpowder priming of 
a cannon. 

Lithe. Pliant ; flexible ; yielding. 

Lither. Soft ; pleasant. 

List. To wish ; want ; listen. 

Lists. Boundaries ; shares ; enclosures for a tournament. 
Also, chooses — "turns which way he lists." 

Literal. Plain spoken. 

Little. Miniature. 

Liver. Once supposed to be the test of love. 

Livery. Property. Still used to describe the possession of 
an office or benefice by a minister of the Church of 
England. 

Living. Ocular demonstration of a fact ; something tangible. 
" Give me a living reason." {Othello.) 

Livelihood. Evidence in one's looks of a happy state. 

Lizards' stings. A mistake ; lizards do not sting. 

Loach. A small prolific fish. 

Loam. Mortar ; cement ; clay. 



127 

Lob. A lout; a lubber; likewise, a mischievous clown as 
Puck is called by one of the fairies. {Midsummer- 
Nig Ms Dream.) 

Lock. A small curl of hair fastened with a ribbon and worn 
on the forehead. It was called a love-lock. 

Lockkam. A coarse cloth. 

Locks. Wooden obstacles or weights attached to the hoofs 
of horses or cattle to prevent their straying from the 
pasture. 

Locusts Beans; the vegetable which, with wild honey, con- 
stituted the food of St. John the Baptist. There is a 
cluster of locust trees still extant in the locality of the 
Saint's early abode in Palestine. A convent exists near 
the spot, and beneath the altar is a star or slab of marble 
inscribed : 

" Hie precursor Domine Christi natus est." 

" Here the herald of the Lord Christ was born." 

' Persons of the Baptist denomination frequently make 
pilgrimages to the locality. 

Lode star. The leading or guiding planet — that is, the Pole 
star. 

Lodge. Sometimes used in the sense of lay or lie ; ad., pros- 
trate ; s., a lonely abode in a warren. 

Loffe. To laugh. 

Loggatts. A kind of dice ; castors ; dumps to gamble with. 
They were originally clipped from logs of wood — whence 
the word. 

Long. Along. u Long of you ;" caused by you ; it is your 
fault. 

Long engrafted. Confirmed by long habit. 

Longing. Belonging to. 

Longly. Longingly. 

Long purples Flowers. 

Loon or Loun. Abbreviation of " clown." 

Loofed. To luff ; brought close to the wind ; a sea term. 

Looped. Pierced with apertures ; applicable to the walls of 
fortresses whence musketry fire can be delivered. 

Luffd, luffed. Sea phrase, " to windward." 

Loose, v. To let go ; " loose the forfeiture set on ;" sug- 
gest ; "loose my daughter." {Merchant of Venice.) 



128 

Loose shot. Random shooters, (boys ;) n., a departure. 

Lop. The branch of a tree. 

Lordling. A little lord. 

Lots. Prizes. 

Lottery. " Dropping by lottery," (Julius Coesar;) proscrib- 
ing individuals by decimation, i. <?., naming the tenth 
man of a certain number accused of treason or con- 
spiracy, or guilty of revolt. An old Roman practice. 

Louted. Treated contemptuously — as one would treat a lout ; 
humbled ; depressed. 

Louvre. Once the rendezvous of wolf (loup) hunters in Paris 
— afterwards enlarged to a palace. 

Love or Lover. An attached friend; a mistress or sweet- 
heart ; a term for Venus. 

Loves. " Of all loves ;" " In the name of our love ;" " For 
love's sake ;" appeals to the affection. 

Love in Idleness. A flower of purple dye ; the heartsease. 

Love Springs. The buds of love. 

Lowted. Vanquished. 

Lozel. A worthless fellow. Derived from the Italian, Laz- 
zaroni. 

Lubber's Head. A corruption of Leopard's Head ; the sign 
of an old hostelry in London. 

Luce. The flower de luc — le fleur de lis. (Fr.) The lily; 
also the pike, a fish When Slender (Merry Wives of 
Windsor) refers to the dozen white luces on the coats- 
of-arms of Justice Shallow's ancestors, he intends either 
the flower or the fish — probably the latter, for it is an 
object frequently seen on the shields of old families of 
Norman descent. Shakespeare makes use of S»r Hugh 
Emus' supposed ignorance of the meaning of the word 
luce to indulge in a pun at the expense of Sir Thomas 
Lucy, the magistrate, who is said to have imprisoned 
the dramatist, when a mere youth, for trespass on his 
park Luce, with a little alteration in the orthography, 
would give the wild person's utterance the appellation 
of an offensive insect sometimes to be found in a dirty 
old coat. 

Lud's town. The ancient name of " London " — the city of 
King Lud. 



129 

Lugged. Heavy. 

Lullaby. A cradle ; a song to send a child to sleep. 

Lunes. Whims ; changeable as Luna, the moon ; moments 
of lunacy. 

Lupercal. An annual feast held in Rome in honor of Luper- 
cas, (Pan ;) or of Lupa, a woman ; or Lupas, the wolf- 
nurse of Romulus and Remus ; or Laperces, a famous 
wolf destroyer. 

Lurch. To win ; purloin. 

Lurched. Intercepted. 

Lure. A thing staffed to resemble the game a hawk was to 
pursue. 

Lush. Luscious; juicy; succulent; rank. 

Lust. Inclination ; will, or pleasure ; vigorous. 

Lustic. For lustig, (Dutch ;) cheerful ; lusty ; strong. 

Lusty. Saucy ; stout. 

Luxurious. Lascivious. 

Luxury. Lust. 

Lym or Lyme. A blood-hound. 

Mab. See Queen Mab. 

Macbeth. If the truth supposed to be involved in the his- 
torical plays of Shakespeare were subjected to a severe 
scrutiny it would probably be found that he was more 
indebted to his imagination for his facts than to any 
records quasi authentic. We ought to be content with 
Hollingshed's statement that Generals Macbeth and 
Banquo, having left their victorious troops to enjoy a 
little hunting, encountered the weird sisters upon a 
" blasted heath," and that what followed, in respect to 
the murder of Duncan, &c, was the natural fulfilment 
of their prophecies. Macbeth, in this view, is an odious 
assassin, governed exclusively by his desire to wear the 
crown of Scotland, and obeying the dictates of an ambi- 
tious wife. But Wright, in his History of Scotland 
from, the earliest period to the present time, leads us to 
suppose that Macbeth had a political as well as a per- 
sonal motive for the murder of Duncan. He had a legiti- 
mate claim to the throne. 



130 

It would simply confuse the reader of the play, and disturb 
the interest in the tradition, were Mr. Wright quoted 
in this place. We must be content to follow HolliDgshed 
and leave the story esta posita which he has assigned it. 

Macduff. The realization of the prophecy of the witches that 
Macbeth should never be done to death by " man of 
woman born,' 1 goes to prove that Shakespeare was well 
acquainted with the Cesarean operation, which " untimely 
rips " the embryo child from the womb of a dying 
mother. Shakespeare possibly derived his acquaintance 
with the subject from a translation of Roslem's " Hose 
Garden of Medicine" published at Worms in 1513, or, 
more probably, from a treatise by Francois Rousset, a 
Parisian surgeon, published in 1581, nearer to Shake- 
speare's time, and in a language of which the poet had 
some knowledge. 

Mace. A heavy kind of sceptre ; a symbol of regal authority. 
The Lord Mayor of London, on state occasions, and as 
he takes his seat in the judgment hall of the Mansion 
house, (London,) is preceded by a mace-bearer. The 
mace, as the silent representative of the royal presence, 
is placed upon the table of the House of Commons be- 
fore the debates commence. Oliver Cromwell's com- 
mand that the mace (" the bauble 1 ') should be removed 
was significant of a desire for the extinction of sovereign 
power. In the description of the procession in Henry 
VIII, at the coronation of Anne Boleyn, the Lord Mayor 
himself bears the mace. It was with this weighty em- 
blem of monarchy that Sir William Walworth, the Lord 
Mayor in attendance on Richard II, is said to have as- 
saulted the insurgent, Wat Tyler. 

Machiavel. The comparison of Alencpn {Henry VI) to the 
Italian statesman, Machiavelli, seems to be founded on 
the suggestion of perfidy, which occurs later in the same 
scene. Machiavelli's morale in diplomacy was a mass of 
hypocrisy and studied deceit. Alencon carries out the 
same principle in saying to Charles, the French king : 

" Take this compact of a truce, 

Although you break it when your pleasure serves." 

Mad. Angry ; wild ; inconsistent ; rollicky. This word is 



131 

used in that sense in the United States of America ; but 
in England it denotes insanity. 

Made. Equipped by fortune ; "A made man ;" magnificent ; 
boastful. 

Magnifico. The Italian appellation of a high class of officers. 
Senators bore this title. 

Magot-pie. See Daw. 

Mahomet. The founder of the faith (Islam) called after his 
name, Mahometan or Mahommedan. He was, say his 
biographers, visited by a dove, which he fed with wheat 
from his ear, and made his Arabian disciples believe 
that it was the Holy Spirit giving him ghostly counsel 
in whispers. 

Maiden flowers. Garlands ; wreaths ; coronals. 

Maid Marian. The supposed chere aimee of Robin Hood. A 
character in the masques usually played by a rough boy. 

Mail. A budget or wallet. 

Mailed. Clad in mail (or chain) armor. 

Mailed-up. Enveloped in a penitential sheet, after the man- 
ner in which women were publicly disgraced. 

Main course. A nautical term ; technical. 

Major. The premises in a logical argument. 

Make. To do ; to shut ; to bar. " What make you here % " 
is evidently borrowed from the French /aire — to do or 
make. It serves Shakespeare for a pun — "I do not 
make, I mar." 

Male. A bag. 

Malecto. Mischief. (Sp.) 

Malkin. Mary — abridged, as Mai, Mol. 

Mallard. A species of aquatic wild fowl. 

Malmsey nose. A scoffing name for Barclolph, (Henry IV,) 
whose nose had been reddened by numerous potations 
of Malmsey Madeira. 

Malt worms. Beer drinkers. 

Mammering. Stammering ; hesitating. 

Mammets. Lexicographers explain this word by " puppets " 
— marionettes; but Hotspur (Henry IV) evidently re- 
fers to the female bosom, or why connect it with " tilting 
with lips 1 " 

Mammock. To cut in pieces. 



132 

Man. To arm ; to\tame a hawk. 

Manacle. A hand-cuff. 

Manage. Good housekeeping ; from the French menage ; also, 
horse government, equitation, (from manege, Fr. ;) also, 
circumstance ; peculiar. 

Mandrake. A root. 

Mandragora. A wild plant of narcotic property. Identical, 
perhaps, with mandrake. 

Mankind witch. A ferocious female ; wild and pernicious. 

Manner. Custom ; an act ; stolen property. 

Manningtree. A town in Essex, (England,) where cattle 
fairs were held and miracles performed. 

Manqueller. Man-killer. 

Mantuan. A Carmelite monk ; his name was Mantuarus, and 
he was the author of Sunday Eclogues. « 

Manus. (Lat.) The hand. 

Many a time, and oft. A tautologous phrase, apparently com- 
mon in Shakespeare's time 

Marches. Borders of land ; confines. 

Marchpane. A sweet kind of cake or bread, {pain, or^eme,) 
compounded of Hour, sugar, or treacle and almonds. 

Make. This was a nickname for a two or three-legged scaf- 
fold, on which malefactors were hung. 

Margent A margin or border. 

Mark. A coin worth thirteen shillings and four pence English. 
The exclamation, " God bless the mark," originated with 
the Venetians ; but whether it referred to the coin, or 
to St. Mark, the patron saint, is difficult of explanation. 

Marmoset. The flying squirrel. 

Marry ! At a time when the Roman Catholic religion pre- 
vailed in England, the name of the Virgin " Mary " 
was continualry in the mouths of the people. It was 
gradually corrupted to ' Marry," as •' God's wounds !" 
and other pious adjurations became " Zounds !" u Ouns," 
" Blood and Ouns," &c. But Shakespeare makes the 
mistake of putting the ejaculation into the mouths of 
heathen Romans, {Julius Ccesar.) What did Republican 
Rome know of the Holy Virgin'? 

Marry trap. An oath. 

Marshal, v. To indicate ; to lead; n., a title of military and 



133 

civil dignity. The "Lord High Marshal" is an officer 
of great state. 

Martial. Military ; authoritative ; " martial stalk," the pace 
of a soldier. 

Martial hand. A careless scrawl. 

Mart, n. A market or exchange ; v., to bargain ; exchange. 

Martlemas or Martinmas. (St. Martin's feast.) A term for 
smoked beef for winter use. 

Martlet. Another name for the marten, or swallow, which 
always builds its nest in eaves, the corners of roofs and 
buttresses. 

Mass. " By the mass !" by the by ; by the way ; an old ex- 
clamation or oath, as we now say " By Jove !" or " By 
Jingo !" 

Massy. Weary. 

Master. A familiar form of personal address among ple- 
beians. 

Match. Wager ; undertaking ; duty ; engagement ; equal ; 
to set a match, was the thieves' phrase for devising a 
plot. 

Mated. Confounded. 

Material. Full of matter. 

Material fool. A fool gifted with knowledge. 

Matin. The morning ; also, the mass at a Catholic altar per- 
formed in the morning, 

Matter. Variety of business. 

Maugre. Corruption of malgre, (Fr.;), notwithstanding. 

Maund. A basket. 

May of Life. The spring-time of existence; often errone- 
ously printed " Way of Life " in Macbeth. See Henry 
V and Much Ado About Nothing, where " May " rep- 
resents youth. 

May pole. A lofty pole, around which rustics danced in the 
month of May. 

Maze. An abridgment of amaze ; perplex ; also, as a noun, 
'* a tangled wood," through which a traveller makes his 
way with difficulty. 

Mazes. Marks made by the foot ; an old boyish game. 

Mazzard. The head. 

Meacock. Tame ; yielding. 



134 

Mealed. Fed; supplied with meals; powdered; dusted. 

Mean. A method ; a way ; a tenor singer ; a mezzo-so-prano ; 
gifted with a note or voice needed to blend the base 
with alto. 

Meanders. Irregular curving paths or roads. 

Means. Source of livelihood ; interest. 

Mean eyes. Inferior spectators. 

Measure, v. To dance ; " tread a measure ;" also, a space or 
degree : precautionary action. 

Measure for Measure. This play was founded on the play 
of Pomos and Cassandra, written by Geo. Whelstone, 
and produced in 1578. 

Meazels. A low class of people ; lepers. 

Mechanical. The profession of cobblers, carpenters, and all 
who lived by handicraft. The scornful way in which 
the artificers were addressed by the Tribunes {Julius 
Ccesar, Act I, Scene I) sufficiently indicates that the 
great Roman Republic, which existed for 500 years, had 
dwindled to an oligarchy, and was now on the verge of 
imperialism. 

Mechante fortune. (Fr.) Sad misfortune; malignant for- 
tune. 

Medal. Portrait. 

Meddle. To iniDgle. 

Medea. The nocturnal gathering of herbs for old Eson's 
sake was the only, good action recorded of this horrible 
personage. 

Medici te ipsum. (Lat.) Physician, heal thyself! 

Medicine. A female physician. 

Meed. Reward ; praise. 

Meet. A match ; fitting. 

Meherde ! By Hercules ! 

Meiney. Domestics. 

Meleager. When York {Henry VI. Act I, Scene II) speaks 
of the " Prince's heart of Calydon," he refers to the 
hero of antiquity who slew the boar that was devasta- 
ting the country. 

Mell. Mingle with men ; trifle with, &c. 

Memmering. Hesitating. 

Memory. Memorial. 



135 

Memories. Memorials. 

Memorize. To be remembered. 

Mends. Remedies. 

Menelaus. The unfortunate husband of Helen of Troy, who 
eloped with Paris. Her incontinency justified the al- 
lusion in 3d part of Henry VI. 

Mephistophiles. A familiar spirit, of whom the German poet, 
Goethe, has made great use in the story of Faust. 

Mercatante. (Ital.) A merchant. 

Merchant. The affix " Royal," which the Doge of Venice ap- 
plies to Antonio, {Merchant of Venice,) represents, as 
far as words go, the exalted character of a trader in a 
city which had become rich, warlike, and politically 
powerful through its commerce with other nations. 

Merchant of Venice. The two principal incidents of this 
charming play are to be found separately in a collection 
of old stories, which were very popular, at least five 
hundred years ago, under the title of " Gesta Romano- 
rum." The stories, with some changes of name, are fol- 
lowed so literally in the play, that it would be a waste 
of space and type to quote them. 

Mercy. " I cry you mercy ! " a colloquial idiom tantamount 
to the modern " I beg your pardon." 
Few passages in the whole range of Shakespeare's plays 
has a greater vogue than Portia } s futile attempt to 
move Shy lock from his purpose by her appeal to his 
sense of the "quality of mercy." In rendering the 
speech practically ineffective, (i. e, as far as its ultimate 
results are depicted in the play.) Shakespeare mani- 
fested a fair comprehension of the intensity of the 
Jewish hate inspired by centuries of Christian persecu- 
tion. '" The villainy you (the Christian) teach me I will 
execute, and it shall go hard, but I will better the in- 
struction! 1 '' The rebuke is striking, and well merited. 
Even in Shakespeare 's time the Spanish Inquisition 
persecuted the Jews, and put them to death, and in 
modern times, Russian Gentiles have had legal author- 
ity for the wholesale eviction, if not worse, of thou- 
sands of Hebrews. It was deemed a clever proof of the 
thoughtfulness and originality of a Scotch actor, named 



136 

Macklin, who was considered b}^ the public, for his mas- 
terly personation, 

" The Jew 

That Shakespeare drew," 

that when Portia says, " we pray for mercy," he shook 
his head, thereby negativing the proposition ; but if 
this were his purpose he manifested much ignorance, 
for the words " forgive us our trespasses as we forgive 
those who trespass against us," not only occur in the 
Old Testament but in the Hebrew Talinud also. 
Shakespeare was not content to confine his observations 
on the divine quality of mercy to the famous speech 
in the Merchant of Venice. It occurs in Measure for 
Measure and forms a touching portion of Isabella's ap- 
peal to Angelo. Likewise it is incidentally spoken of in 
Titus Andronicus : " Sweet mercy is nobility's true 
badge." 

Mered. Limited. 

Merely. Simply; coldly; solely; purely; absolutely. 

Merlin. A mythical enchanter, supposed to be contempo- 
rary with King Arthur. 

Mermaid. The " fabulous animal " referred to by Oberon 
(Midsummer- Nig ht" s Dream) as riding on a dolphin's 
back, is supposed to image Mary, Queen of Scots, who 
married the Dauphin of France. The allegory may be 
accepted as readily as its sequel, which implied that " the 
fair vestal throned in the West," meant the Virgin 
Queen Elizabeth whom Cupid's arrow missed. Was it a 
merit in the throned vestal to be insensible to the ten- 
der passion? If she were, history lies in ascribing to 
her a womanly interest in Essex and Leicester at differ- 
ent periods. 

Merry Bond. A bond in jest, having no legal significance or 
intended operation if the penalty were incurred. 

Merry Wives of Windsor. This very amusing comedy is said 
to have been written at the express desire of Queen 
Elizabeth, who wished to see how Shakespeare would 
treat Sir John Falstajf in love. Shakespeare knew 
that love in its purer form could never have found a 
place in the heart of the sensuous knight, hence his rep- 



137 

reservation of Falstajfs attempted violation of the 
seventh commandment. 
A popular modern writer has made good three points of 
interest in connection with The Merry Wives of 
Windsor : First, that it is most likely that the poet did 
write the piece by the command of the Queen, because 
he had never been in the habit of localizing his comedies 
in England, and nothing less than her Majesty's orders 
could have induced him to desert from a practice that 
had obvious advantages. Secondly, the comedy bears 
traces of close study of locality. The Garter Tavern, 
in which it is known Shakespeare's comrades — probably 
Gascoyne, the Queen's messenger — indulged ; " mine 
host" — a big, influential, self -conceited burgher, as big 
as a brewer in our day — sitting at table with his guests, 
and giving to whomsoever he pleased the place at his 
right hand as the place of honor, and " bully-rooking," 
doubtless, those who grumbled at his insolence ; the 
red-tiled house, in which the Fords lived, over the street 
on the slope under Salisbury Tower, a house with its 
porch and windows so overlooked by the tavern that 
Ford's wife could not possibly step over her door with- 
out being seen straight in the face by any idler at " The 
Garter " — a house, therefore, especially fit for the scene 
of a merry intrigue; "The Fields," away out in the 
Great Park on the road to Frogmore — a proper ground 
.for a duel in sport ; the goblin-haunted " Puck's-lane," 
running from these fields into the town ; the haunted 
oak tree in the Queen's-walk in the Little Park, and 
close by it the pretty fairy dell carpeted with flowers and 
draped with ferns and all manner of winsome verdure : 
in these it is shown that names, scenes, and legends for 
the play not only came ready to Shakespeare's hand, 
but that he must have carefully studied them every one. 
Lastly, by an elaborate and minute comparison of the 
first and second drafts of the play, it is shown that they 
represent two different states of the poet's mind — states 
that differ as two lives — the difference being due to the 
fact that Shakespeare refined upon the original, purified 
it from its first grossness, excising all the oaths and 
12 



138 

coarse expressions which, if truth must be told, he had 
even the bad taste to put into the mouths of timid 
Master Slender and " Sweet Anne Page." Nay, he 
knows that the poet went further in his work of peni- 
tential purification. He heightened the very moral of 
his play, and so it came to pass that Sir John, who in 
the first draft was not forgiven and reconciled, in the 
second had extended to him the sweet, wise charity of 
Mrs. Page : " Good husband, let us every one go home, 
and laugh this sport o'er by a country fire, Sir John 
and all 1 ' — "not" to rejoice in the old sinner's burns 
and pinches, but to crown a merry day, a day that never 
had a spice of serious mischief, in the cheer of an Eng- 
lish fire and the fellowship of an English board. 

Mess. A party of four persons. 

Messes. A household degree ; the " lower messes " were the 
parts of the tables of the retainers and others who sat 
"below the salt," which was placed in the middle of the 
board. 

Metaphysical. Supernatural. 

Meteors. The tilting of the heart's meteors is obviously a 
picture of internal straggles. 

Methinks. I think. 

Method. (In madness,) would imply that the state of insan- 
ity is under certain regulations. 

Meteyard. A measuring yard. 

Mettle. Spirit ; courage ; often confounded with or treated 
as a synonym of " metal ;" the two words have the same 
etymology. 

Mew, v. To shut up ; encage. When falconry was a Royal 
pastime, the trained hawks were kept in London in the 
King's grounds, in a building called, on that account, 
"The Mews." The buildings now form the Royal Sta- 
bles, but the name is preserved. 

Micher. A thief ; a bad fellow. 

Miching Mallecho. Doing mischief. (From the Spanish.) 

Mickle. Much ; great. A Scotch word at one time in con- 
siderable use in England. The word, as used by the 
Friar, in Romeo and Juliet, proclaims the " powerful 
grace " that lies in herbs, plants, &c. Shakespeare ap- 



139 

pears to have been acquainted with fifteen kinds of wild 
flowers, nine or ten garden exotics, and a great variety 
of trees, shrubs, and weeds. He had likewise acquired 
a familiar knowledge of their value as spices, medicines 
or poisons. See Plants and Flowers. 

Microcosm. The entire composition of Man. 

Midas. The "hard food" of the foolish King of Phrygia is 
felicitously glanced at in the contemplation of the 
golden casket. {Merchant of Venice.) 

Middle Summer's Spring. The description given by Tltania 
( Midsummer- NigMs Dream) of the strange changes 
and fluctuations iu the English climate was borne out in 
the season of 1594 when, as in several years of later cen- 
turies, winter was found "in the lap of spring," and 
summer was a continuous period of heavy rains and cold 
winds. 

Milford Haven. A port in the western extremity of England. 

Mill Sixpences. Coins rendered smooth by being turned 
in a mill. They were used as counters in games of 
chance and skill. 

Mince, v. To walk affectedly. 

Mincing, ad. Small ; delicate ; daintj^. 

Mind, v. To remind ; remember. 

Mines, v. Undermined 

Minimus. Small ; dwarfed. 

Minion. A favorite ; a pet. 

Minnow. A small fish antithetical to the poetical Triton. 

Minotaurs. Hideous objects. See " Minotaurus " in any 
classical dictionary. 

Minstrelsy. The office of a minstrel ; the results of his per- 
formance. A minstrel was an attendant upon a king. 

Minute Jack. Jack-o'-Lantern, (q. v.) Friends and compan- 
ions of the moment ; sunshine friends. 

Mi perdonte. Pardon me, (Ital.) 

Mirable. Wonderful. 

Misconceived. Mistaken. La Pucelle {Henry VI) calls her 
captors " misconceivers " 

Miscreate. Illegitimate; spurious. 

Misdoubt. To suspect. 

Miser. A poor wretch — not merely a hoarder of money. 



140 

Misery. Avarice. 

Misgraffed. Badly matched or grafted, as flowers are some- 
times, in error, attached to unsuitable stoplet. 

Mislike. Dislike. 

Misprised. Mistaken. 

Miss, v. To spare ; dispense with ; do without. 

Mobled. This word has crept in probably all of the modern 
editions of Shakespeare through the egregious blunder 
of a copyist. It is not Shakespeare's. It occurs in 
Hamlet. The player describing ^Eneatf tale to Dido 
of the distraction of Hecuba, uses the phrase, " The 
Mobled Queen." Hamlet, with the instincts of a 
scholar and a man of sense, interrupts the player with an 
interrogation, "Mobled?" folonius, the self-elected 
critic, " most ignorant of what he's most assured ! " does 
not offer an explanation of the term, but in the confi- 
dence that his ipse dixit will be accepted, as a matter of 
course, exclaims, u That's good ; ' Mobled Queen ' is 
good!" Now, the context and the poet himself show 
that the term is anything but " good." The lexicogra- 
phers, " holding their farthing candle to the sun," state 
that the word is obsolete, but when in use meant Muf- 
fled. Was Queen Hecuba muffled ? She had a blanket 
thrown over her loins and a clout upon the head which 
once had worn a diadem. Ergo, the term is not 
" good," as applied to her condition, and when we turn 
to the first printed edition of Hamlet, in 1623, we find 
the word mobled, short for ?7/nobled, as antagonistic 
to e?mobled, and " ignobled " fitly describes Queen 
Hecuba's degraded state. The close proximity of the 
" i " to the " n " in " inobled " seems to have caused 
the first copyist to have mistaken the combined letters 
for " m /" and though the word is repeated thrice in 
good, legible print, it has not escaped being printed 
erroneously three times. 

Missives. Messengers. 

Mistempered. Angry ; ill-humored. 

Mistful. Disposed to weep. 

Misthink. To think unfavorably of any one. 

Mistress. The Jack in a game at bowls. To "kiss the mis- 



141 

tress " was to strike the bowl forming what in billiards 
is called a carom. t 

Mistress Moll. A woman notorious in the sixteenth century 
for her masculine habits. 

Mo'. More. "Sigh no mo', ladies." 

Moan. To make moan ; regret. 

Moated Grange. A lonely farm surrounded (protected) by 
a moat. 

Mobled. Veiled ; muffled, (perhaps mobbled.) The word, as 
it occurs in Hamlet, has often been pronounced Mob-led, 
as if many persons were preceding and approaching the 
raving queen mentioned in the player's speech. 

Mock- water. A mispronunciation of Muc/c-wnter ; the liquid 
strained from a dung-heap. 

Mock, v. To make light of — treat contemptuously — work, 
or any charge, by going to sleep over it. In the phrase 
" mocks the meat it feeds on," which occurs in some of 
the editions of Shakespeare, it is conjectured that the 
author wrote or meant "makes the meat it feeds on," 
i. <?., continually imagines or conjures up objects of 
jealousy, "trilies light as air," to strengthen and con- 
firm previous suspicions. 

Model, n. An example ; a platform ; a guide ; a figure; v., to 
construct after an example ; to fashion. 

Modern. Moderate ; slight ; ordinary. 

Modesty. Moderation. 

Module. A model. 

Moe. To grin ; make ugly faces ; mutter. 

Moiety. A portion ; from the Fr. moitee ; half. 

Moist-star. See Moon. 

Mold-warp or Mould-warp. The mole. 

Mole. Not only a tenant of the earth, but a blemish ; a scar 
" despised in nativity." 

Mollification. Softening ; '"•JEmolllt mores, v &c. 

Molles aer. Mild atmosphere 

Mome. An extremely dull, silent person. " Sitting mum 
chance," or " mome, chance," is still in modern use and 
applies to a person who never speaks unless " by 
chance " spoken to. 

Momentany. Synonymous with "momentary." 



142 

Monarcho. A hair-brained Italian who fancied himself Mon- 
arch of the Universe. 

Mongrel. A creature of mixed breed. (Qy., a Mongrelian ?) 

Mons. (Lat.) Hill or mountain. 

Monster, v. To make monstrous. 

Monsters. Superhuman ; but in Hamlet 's reproachful speech 
to Ophelia, implying " horned beasts." 

Montanto. An old term in fencing ; also, a large sword, 
grasped and wielded by both hands. Beatrice in Much 
Ado About Nothing, in applying the word to Benedick, 
is ironically reflecting on his valor. 

Month's mind. Disposed to say masses for an entire month 
in the hope of gaining an object. 

Montez a cheval. (Fr.) Mount your horse ! 

Mood. Anger ; humor. 

Moody. Melancholy. 

Moon. No planet has been more serviceable to poets than 
Luna, Diana, Cynthia, Phoebe, or by whatever name it 
hath pleased them to designate her. The attributes as- 
signed to the moon are numerous. In Shakespeare alone 
we find " the cold moon," " the watery," " the pale- 
faced," "the inconstant," the "abode of light honor." 
"When Titania {Midsummer-Night'' s Dream) says that 
when the moon "weeps," 

" Every little flower weeps also," 
she refers to the fact that the clouds which cover the 
moon's face, rendering it "hazy," in modern parlance, 
indicates the general humidity of the atmosphere, and 
is the precursor of rain. The " moist star " is another 
appellation, originating in an old idea that the moon ex- 
ercised an influence upon the tides. The odd conceit 
of " The Man in the Moon," was, in all likelihood, de- 
rived from the resemblance which the arrangement of 
the mountains, volcanoes, and plains, when the moon is 
at " the full," bears to a grotesque human face. And 
that resemblance has suggested to many persons the no- 
tion that the moon (or " the man " within it) sees what- 
ever passes on the earth. Lord Byron adopted the idea, 
(see the mythological story of Endymion,} and rebuked 
Diana for contemplating wicked sights and looking " so 



143 

modest all the while." Byron's conceit had its precur- 
sor in the " Amphitryon " of Moliere. Apostrophizing 
the Moon, Amphitryon says : 

" Ou vous fait confidante, en cent climats divers, 
De beaucoup de bonnes affaires." 

Which may be freely rendered : " You are made the con- 
fidante, in a hundred different climates, of many pleas- 
ant deeds " 

Moon calf. A monstrous conception ; a dolt. 

Moonish. Variable ; whimsical. 

Moor. See Othello. 

Mope, v. To ruminate ; sulk ; give way to melancholy. 

Mops and Mowes. Grimaces ; grins. 

Mopping. Making hideous faces. 

Moral. The concealed meaning ; the true purpose of an ac- 
tion, or the philosophical deduction from an incident or 
a fable. 

Moralize. To descant upon ; to draw a moral conclusion 
from a natural occurrence. 

More-better. The double adverb and similar linguistic re- 
dundancies were in common use in the Elizabethan era, 
and for some time before and since. " Most boldest," 
" most unkindest," were the superlatives of the common 
tautology. 

Morisco. A native of Morocco. 

Morsel. A very small person. 

Most. Greatest. 

Moorditch. A part of the fosse enveloping old London ; the 
soil being swampy in the vicinity, it was avoided by the 
citizens, who feared malaria; hence the term "melan- 
choly." 

Morris. A rustic game. Several descriptions of the " Nine 
Men's Morris," as it was called, are extant. It was, per- 
haps, of Moorish origin, whence its corrupted title. Al- 
chorne describes the game as it was played by rustics in 
the midland counties of England : Three squares were 
cut in the turf, and two persons each took nine stones 
(as " men," " chickens," draughts, or checkers, &c.,) and 
placed them by turns at the several angles. He could 
place them in a straight line, might then take off any 



144 

of his adversary's whenever he pleased, and the one who 
was thus deprived of all his men lost the game. It is 
conjectured by some old writers that the " Morris 
dance " was either a dance when the game had been 
played, or was simply a rustic revel, confined to nine 
men. 

Morris pike. A Moorish spear. 

Morsel. A very sweet person. 

Moet. Death. "A mort" described a state of stupefaction 
— a suspension of the faculties ; but commonly addressed 
to persons who were either sulky or dumb from surprise. 

Mort of the deer. A blast on the huntsman's horn, announc- 
ing the death of the chased deer. 

Mort de ma vie ! (Fr.) Death of my life ! — equivalent to " By 
my life ! " It is extinct as a French oath or ejaculation. 

Mort du Vinaigre. Death by vinegar. An old French ex- 
clamation. 

Mortal. Murderous ; fatal ; abounding ; extreme. 

Mortal engines. Cannon. 

Mortal gate. The entrance to a besieged city, where a mor- 
tal conflict would naturally take place if an attempt 
were made to seize the place by storm. 

Mortal staring. Killed by a look ; the Evil Eye ; the glance 
of the basilisk. 

Mortal worm. A deadly serpent. 

Mortified. Ascetic ; abstinent. 

Mose. An equine disorder. 

Mot. A motto. 

Mote. A trifling incident calculated to " trouble the mind's 
eye." 

Mother. Hysteric passion. 

Motion. Desires ; divinitory agitation ; a puppet. 

Motions. Indignation. 

Motive. Motion ; movement ; principle; and that which im- 
parts motion ; a motor. 

Moth of peace. An idler at home during a war. 

Motley. Vari-colored. 

Motley-minded. Capricious. 

Mouse, n. A term of endearment; v., to tear in pieces as a 
cat would tear a captive mouse. 



145 

• 

Mouse-hunt. A weasel ; a nocturnal libertine. 

Mountain foreigner. A Welshman. 

Mountain sire. A reference to Edward III of England Who 
was of Welsh extraction. His father, born • at Carnar- 
von, having been proclaimed the first Prince of Wales. 

Mountebank. From Saltimbanque, Fr.; a tumbler, (acrobat,) 
or a quack who mounts a bench whence to proclaim his 
infallible specifics. 

Moys. A gold Portuguese coin ; the Moidore. Pistol mis- 
takes the pronoun moi (me) uttered by the French 
soldier (Henry V) for an allusion to the money. The 
value of the coin was twenty-seven shillings English. 

Much. Strange ; wonderful ; indeed ! (sarcastically. ) 

Muffler. A cloak or covering for the lower part of the face. 

Mulier, (Lat.) A woman. 

Mules. Silent witnesses. 

Muleties. Mule drivers. 

Mulmutius. The traditional feast of the Anglo-Saxon Kings. 

Mulled. Softened. 

Multiplied. Multitudinous. 

Multitudinous. Innumerable ; full of multitudes. 

Mum budget. A cant compound for silence and immobility. 
It was used by the gipsies as a sort of watchword or 
shibboleth. 

Mummies. The drops of liquor exuding from the bodies in 
the sarcophagi. 

Mummy. A kind of gum or wax which was formerly supposed 
to have a curative property. It is much used still in Per- 
sia, where it is called Mome, and is employed td close 
up wounds and set bones. 

Mural clown. Exit the actor (Midsummer-Night' 1 s Dream) 
who had been playing Wall (Muse) in the comical 
tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe. 

Mure. A wall ; from the French muraille, whence " to im- 
mure ;" wall up ; confine. 

Murdering-piece. A piece that " gives superfluous death in 
many places ;" apparently an ancestor of the Gatling 
or Mitrailleuse. 

Murky. Dark. 

Murrain. A cattle plague. Shakespeare uses the word as 
13 



146 

an adjective, the "murrain flock." Sheep losing then* 
wool by the disease become the prey of the crows. 

Muethered. The old orthography of " murdered." 

Muscadel. A Spanish wine, in greater use three centuries ago 
than at the present day. 

Muscle-shell, or rather (as it should be) Mussel-shell. The 
open shell-fish to which Falstaff compares Simple, 
(Merry Wives of Windsor,) who is a kind of gobe 
mouche, or fly-catcher, with his mouth ever open — a 
characteristic of idiots. 

Muse, v. To wonder ; marvel. 

Muses. " The thrice three Muses mourning for the death of 
learning " was a cunning shaft at the neglect of letters 
at the time. 

Music. The softening and refining influence of music is a 
favorite topic of Shakespeare's. He evidently had a vile 
opinion of those who were not moved by " concord of 
sweet sounds," but he lost sight of the fact that the 
people, as a nation, most given to the patronage of the 
" heavenly maid " are the Italians, and none are more 
addicted to " treasons, stratagems, and spoils." 

Musk roses. Does not this mean the yellow flower now 
called the musk? There is nothing in the Herbal of 
1597 to show that it had any affinity with the rose 
either in perfume or color. Perhaps Shakespeare wrote 

MOSS ROSE. 

Muss or Must. A scramble. 
Mutine. A meeting ; a mutineer. 
Mysteries. Strange objects and appearances. 



N 

Naked frailties. Half-clothed persons. 

Names. It is rather singular that in the plays derived from 
the Italian, or where the scene is laid in Italy or France, 
Shakespeare should give all his low comedy characters 
English names. Thus Dogberry and Verges, Sir Toby 
Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Speed, Launce, JElbow, 
Froth, Overdone, Pinch, Didl, Moth, Touchstone^ 
Martext, William, Curtis, &c, illustrate the incon- 



147 

gruity of preserving an Italian nomenclature among the 
serious characters, and giving odd English names to 
the vulgar and humorous personages. In the trage- 
dies more consistency of purpose is apparent. What 
could be Shakespeare's object in this incongruity ? Did 
he consider ignorance and vulgarity exclusively English 1 

Napkin. A handkerchief. 

Napless. Threadbare ; shabby. 

Native. Naturally. 

Natube. Natural parent. 

Natural, n. An idiot. 

Nature's livery. The outer indication of the inward and 
spiritual. 

Naught, Nought. Nothing ; unworthy. " Be naught ;" Be 
out of the way. 

Naughty. Uufit. 

Nay-word. A by-word. 

Neaf. The hand, or the fist. 

Neat. A calf ; a young bullock. 

Neb. The mouth. 

Need, v. To be inclined. " Much I need to help you were 
there need." (Hichard III.) 

Needs. Of a certainty ; necessity. 

Neelds. Needles. 

Neeze, v. To sneeze. 

Nemean. The "hardy lion" slain by Hercules. 

Nephew. A lineal descendant. 

Neptune's Salt Wash. An estuary in Lincolnshire. 

Nerve. Strength of will. 

Nervii. The warlike Belgians who occupied the province now 
called Hainault. 

Nervy. Strong. 

Nestor. The old Greek commander who led his friends 
against the Trojans. The gravity of his speeches ( Troilus 
and Cressida) justifies Gratiano's observation that he 
could not relish a jest. 

Nessus. The shirt of this Centaur was supposed to possess 
the power of wooing a faithless husband from his illicit 
attachments. Mark Antony alludes to the garment 
as giving him, the wearer, the faculty of casting off 



148 

Cleopatra. Nessus had a bad notoriety for his amours 
and ravishments. 

Netter stocks. Stockings, or socks. 

Never so. Ever so ; a convertible term meaning "very much 
so." 

New added. Reinforced ; strengthened in numbers. 

New create. Give sudden birth to. 

Newness. Innovation. 

News crammed. In the passage in the dialogue between 
Rosalind and Celia, (As You Like It,) Celia observes 
that Le Beau will put news upon them "as pigeons 
feed their young." In this Shakespeare presents the 
reader with another of those bits of natural history a with 
which he had become familiar. The mother pigeon 
carries the food she has collected in her croup, whence 
she transfers it to her beak, and therewith crams the 
young whose mandibles are opened wide for the wel- 
come repast. 

Newt. The eft — a small lizard supposed to be venomous. 

Next. Nearest. 

Nice. Small ; petty ; trifling ; foolish. 

Nicholas, or St. Nicholas. The tutelary deity of boys and 
thieves. 

Nice:, v. To cut short the hair. Court fools had their hair 
nicked to make room for their close-fitting caps. 

Nick, n. Credit at an ale-house — the reckoning was kept by 
nicks on a tally, slate, or slip of wood; beyond all 
reckoning. 

Nief. See Neaf. 

Niggard, ad. Parsimonious ; n., a miser. 

Nighted. Gloomy; dark; unhappy. 

Night dogs. The lurchers of poachers. 

Night Rule. See Rule. 

Nill. Will not ; a familiar version of " Nolens, volens " — 
" Nill you, will you," whether you will or not. 

Nine Men's Morris. See Morris Dance. 

Ninny. A fool. 

Niobe. The princess of Lydia, who wept unceasingly for the 
loss of her children at one fell swoop, furnished the " all 
tears " allusion for Hamlet. 



149 

Noble. A coin worth six shillings and eight pence, (English.) 

Noble having. Elevation to noble rank. 

Noble respect. The speech of Theseus, (Midsummer- Night" 1 s 
Dream,) in which this compound occurs, is grand and 
generous. It teaches the grace and duty of accepting 
works done with a good intention, and happily de- 
scribes the embarrassment of " great clerks " (or may- 
ors, aldermen, and such like personages) when they 
greet a superior or popular man with ''premeditated 
welcome" awkwardly expressed. 

Nobless. Noblesse, (Fr.;) nobility; nobleness. 

Noble touch. Unalloyed metal. 

Nobody. The picture of a head attached to limbs only — once 
a common sign for stores and ale-houses. 

Noddy. A foolish person ; a game at cards, in which " Neddy " 
was " nothing," whence the pun Ned-I or Noday. 

Noise. An old technical term for a band of music, or, rather, 
the music of a band. 

Nonce. "Nones;" occasion; purpose. "Then ones" — for 
once in a way. 

Non com. Brief for non compos mentis, (Lat.;) a disturbed 
state of mind. 

None. Non-existent; dead. 

Non egit Mauri Jaculis nec arcu. (Lat.) 

Non nobis. The first words of a hymn of thankfulness to 
God ; "not us, or ours." 

Nonpareil, (Fr.) Without equal or parallel. 

Nook shotten. A shore full of nooks, capes, creeks, corners ; 
irregular of form. 

Noontide prick. The dial point at noon. 

Northern man. A country clown. 

Norweyan. A Norwegian. 

Note. Notice ; a receipt. 

Nothing. A cipher ; a nonentity. It is also used for " Not 
at all;" " Not by any means." 

Notre tres cher fils, Henry, Eoi d'Angleterre, heritier de 
France. (Fr.) Our well-beloved son, Henry, King of 
England and heir of France. 

Nott pated. With the head shorn of hair. 

Nourish, v. To nurse ; likewise, a nurse, as the name was so 
spelled in Shakespeare's time. 



150 

Nousle. To fondle as a nurse. 

Novum. A game with dice, called usually novum quinque, 
from the principal and most lucky throw being nine and 
Jive. 

Novum hominem tanquam te. (Lat.) A new (or inexperienced) 
man like thyself. 

Nowle or Nole. An antiquated name for the head. 

Notance. Annoyance ; nuisance. 

Nun. Shakespeare uses this appellation (in Midsummer- 
JVighfs Dream) in preference to "vestal," possibly, 
because he did not suppose his readers or auditors 
were acquainted with the class of Roman and Greek 
virgins who lived " barren sisters " out of respect to 
Diana. 

Nurse. A controversy arose some years since in the United 
States (suggested by an amateur Shakespearian scholar) 
as to the applicability of the epithet " old" to the nurse 
in Romeo and Juliet. It was held that although Juliet 
calls her nurse " old," she could not have been a person 
advanced in years. The position was correct. The 
term " old " is relative ; what is old in Italy and in America 
is young in colder latitudes. Simply because Jidiet, in 
her impatience, classes her among "old folks," and the 
Nurse herself says she has only four teeth left, the 
majority of English and American actresses act the part 
as if the woman were seventy years of age. Now, the 
inference which students of Shakespeare, who are 
acquainted with the climate of Italy and its effects 
upon the human frame, draw from the allusions to the 
age and infirmity of the garrulous gossip is that she 
was probably sixteen or seventeen years of age when 
she wet-nursed Juliet She would, therefore, be thirty- 
one at the supposed time of the play — for Juliet is not 
fourteen, and the precocity which makes Italian women 
mothers at fourteen, and even earlier, carries them into 
the infirmities of old age at thirty. We know that in 
warm latitudes life is discounted by the climate, and 
there are thousands of women who at thirty have not 
four teeth in their head. Moreover, the habits of life 
in America, Italy, and Spain (candies, tight lacing, late 



151 

hours, over-eating, iced water, etc.) advance life terribly 
among the sex, and destroy the teeth, and she who 
would be buxom in England, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, 
Denmark, and North Germany, is decrepit elsewhere at 
an early period. Ergo, Shakespeare's Nurse is "old" 
at thirty-one. The " childish treble " adopted by the 
majority of nurses on the stage is a conventional ab- 
surdity, and leads inconsiderate hearers into a false 
impression. Actresses are generally uneducated per- 
sons. They are, for the most part, reflections of their 
illiterate predecessors, and in their ignorance they 
transmit and perpetuate error. 

Nurser. One who fosters anybody, thing, or project. 

Nurture. Good birth and breeding. 

Nut hook. An expressive term for a gatherer of nuts or 
other men's goods. 

o 

O'. An abbreviation of "on." The "O" mentioned by the 
Chorus in Henry V refers to the form of the Globe 
Theatre. 

Oar. To row. 

Obdurate. Hard ; obstinate. In uttering some of the pas- 
sages in which the word occurs, the accent lies either 
on the penultimate or the final syllable, according to the 
music or measure of the line, without changing the 
signification of the word. 

Object. As a noun, the accent is laid on the first syllable ; 
when a verb is expressed, the stress lies on the last. — v. 
To propose justly. 

Obligations. Bonds. 

Oblivion. Forgetfulness. 

Obolum. (Lat.) A halfpenny. 

Obscenely. Unseemly ; Bottom, the weaver, in his ignorance, 
uses "obscenely" lor "obscurely." 

Obsequious. Funereal ; mild ; obedient. 

Observation. Celebration. 

Observe. Respect ; to bow to. 

Obstacle. Corruption of obstinate. 



152 

Occasions. Circumstances of which advantage can be taken. 
"To breed occasions." 

Occupation. Mechanical. 

Occupy. To wench. 

Occurrence. Incident. 

Odd even. Between one- time and another ; twilight and 
midnight. 

Oddly. Unequally. 

Odds. Hostilities ; " Living at odds ; " abiding in a state of 
enmity. 

Od's body. One of the many ancient interjections ; Od's be- 
ing a euphuism for God's — Od's plessing (blessing,) 
Od's heartlings; &c, are of this character ; " Od's nouns " 
is Mr. Quickly 's mistake for " God's wounds," or " Od 
zouns." 

Odds pitikens ! God pity me ! 

Oeillard. (Fr. ceillade.) A glance. 

O'er. Over. 

O'erblows. Prevails ; blows away. 

O'ercrow. Overcome. 

O'ereaten faith. Surfeited with and voided. 

O'erlook. To pass over ; overflow ; fascinate. 

O'erparted. Overweighted with a part in a drama. 

O'erraught. Overreached. 

O'ertook. Overcome by drink. 

Oes, pi. n. Stars ; spangles ; anything circular. 

Of, prep. Often used for " by " or "with." 

Off. Irrelevant. 

Offering. Challenge. 

Office, n. Service ; place of business. 

Office, v. To render service ; do duty for another. 

Offices. Culinary apartments ; rooms in a palace. 

Old. Enough to do. 

Old age. Ages past. 

Old ends. Slight terminations of letters. 

Old-faced. Rugged ; defaced. 

Olivers and Rowlands. Two pieces of equal power in Char- 
lemagne's list of twelve. " Give him a Rowland for his 
Oliver," a common form, even in modern times, of giv- 
ing "tit for tat." 



153 

Omen. A sign; an augury. "A prologue to an omen," in 
Hamlet, seems de trop, omens being themselves the 
prologues of dire events, according to ancient supersti- 
tions. 

Once. In the sense of " at once," and once for all. 

One. Equal; "That's all one;" no matter; "All's one for 
that." 

Oneyers. Exclusives. 

On't. Of it. 

Ooze. The various meanings of ooze, (still in use,) whether 
as a no an or verb, are employed by Shakespeare, some- 
times to express flowing out, or caused to flow ; some- 
times to signify softness, mud, slime, &c. 

Open. " In open ; " openly ; publicly. 

Operant. Capable of action. 

Opinion. Obstinacy ; conceit ; reputation. 

Opposeless. Invincible ; not to be effectually opposed. 

Opposite. Opposed to ; confronting. 

Opposition. Face to face in a combat. 

Oppugnancy. Opposition. 

Orbs. Fairy circles on the grass. 

Orbs. In Midsummer - JSTL g htf s Dream, a fairy speaks of its 
duty on "dewing the orbs" of Titania. The fairy 
rings or orbs are those circular patches found some- 
times in meadows, caused probably by the sheep avoid- 
ing the herb within a certain circumference — "grass 
whereof the ewe not bites" — {Tempest,) because it may 
have been poisoned by snakes or other deleterious visit- 
ors, or have natural poisonous qualities. Amongst the 
peasantry in England, and especially in Ireland, the 
notion prevails that these "orbs" are the dancing ground 
of the " good people," (the fairies.) Titania speaks of 
dancing a "roundel ;" dancing "in our round," and our 
"ringlets." In a modern English periodical, the sub- 
joined explanation of the rings is given by two well- 
known agricultural chemists : 

" The circles of dark-green grass which frequently occur on pasture 
land, and which have been long known by the name of ' fairy 
rings,' have attracted much attention from botanists and vege- 
table physiologists. Professor Way, in 1846, explained this 
phenomenon as follows : 'A fungus is developed on a single 



154 

spot of ground, sheds its seeds, and dies. On the spot where 
it grows it leaves a valuable manuring of phosphoric acid and 
alkalies, etc. : the ground then becomes occupied by a vigorous 
ciop of grass, rising like a phoenix on the ashes of its prede- 
cessor. The grass crop is then removed, and with it the greater 
part of the inorganic materials the fungus had collected.' Pro- 
fessor Way, therefore, attributed .the effect chiefly to the inor- 
ganic elements." 

Order. Authority ; measure ; take order ; arrange. 

Ordinance. Rank ; degree ; a mistake for ordnance. 

Ordinaries. Public dinners. 

Ordnance. Shakespeare had evidently a very imperfect ac- 
quaintance with the history of the invention and use of 
cannon in Europe. In Hamlet, King John, and other 
plays, ordnance is adverted to as if in use before it was 
invented. 

Or e'er. Before. 

Orgulous. Proud ; derived from the Fr. orgueilleux. 

Orisons. Prayers said aloud. 

Orphan heirs, or Ouphen heirs. " Of fixed destiny." This 
curious combination has never been satisfactorily solved. 
It has been supposed to imply that ouphens (fairies) had 
neither parentage nor a future. 

Orpheus. A youth of rare musical taste and capacity who, 
according to Virgil, Ovid, and Horace, conceived an un- 
fortunate passion for Eurydice. 

Ort. A fragment. 

Osprey. A fish-hawk. 

Ossa. According to Ovid, a lofty mountain in Thessaly. 

Ostent. Pomp ; ostentatious ; appearance ; display. 

Ottomites. Turks, who derived their appellation from Oth- 
man, a Sultan of the 13th century. 

Ohergate. Otherways or otherwise. 

Ounce. A species of lynx. 

Ouph. A fairy. 

Ousel cock. The male blackbird. 

" black of hue, 

With orange tawny bill." 

Out. Domestic discord ; difference ; in hostility. Jessica, 
[Merchant of Venice,) in saying that she and Launce- 
lot are "out," intimates that they are not on good terms. 
When Prospero ( Tempest) says that his daughter was 



155 

not " out three years old," he means that she had not 
completed her third year when they arrived at the 
" island home." At the supposed date of his speech 
they had been on the island for twelve years, con- 
sequently Miranda may be presumed to be fifteen. It 
is clear from this, and the fact that Juliet {Romeo and 
Juliet) is described by the Nurse as just fourteen, that 
Shakespeare was well aware of the physical precocity 
of Italian girls, for he makes them marriageable at a 
period when in more northerly climates they are only 
emerging from childhood. Perdita ( Winter s Tale) is 
another illustration of female precocity, the place of 
her birth being Sicily. She is supposed to be sixteen, 
for Time, as "Chorus," in a prologue to Act IV, says: 

" 1 slide 

O'er sixteen years," 

the interval between the commencement and the close 

of the play. 
Out has another (a third) signification, as "Out of one's 

self ; " at an end. 
Out ! Out ! Fie, fie ! 
Outlaw. Guiderius (Cymbeline) justifies his slaying Cloten 

on the ground that the law did not protect him and his 

fellows, and therefore he disregarded it. 
Outvied. Defeated in a game of gleek. 
Out- wall. Profession; assurance. 
Outward. Not in confidence. 
Over lusty. Sprightly. 
Overpeer. Overflow ; look down upon. 
Overskutched. Whipped at the cart's tail — an old public 

disgrace for minor offences. 
Owe. Own. 
Own. Self-possession. "No man was his own," i. e.,- in 

his senses. - 
Oxlip. A larger kind of cowslip. 
O Yes. Oyez, (Fr.,) an old law term for "Hear." The crier in 

a village street, or a court of law, called the attention 

of the populace to a proclamation by this appeal to 

their auricular faculty : " Oyez, Oyez, all ye manner of 

people," &c. 



156 

Othello. It has been supposed by certain critics and actors 
that the Moor of Venice was a negro because he says 
he is "black" and Iago speaks of "his thick lips." 
But Shakespeare must have known that the "Moors" in 
the service of the "Republic of Venice were only a dark- 
brown race with handsome features and silky hair, for 
such are the characteristics of the natives of the north 
of Africa, Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, &c , as far easterly 
as Egypt. There would be some excuse- for Desdemona 
if the miscegenation to which she was a party were con- 
tracted with a handsome native of northern Morocco, 
instead of with one of the woolly-headed natives of the 
banks of the Niger, or any part of the " Dark Continent" 
south of the desert of Sahara. 
What was Othello's supposed religion, if Shakespeare 
meant to endow him with the attributes of any sect? 
It is a curious question. He was not one of the Africans 
who had been converted to Mohammedanism, -for he de- 
spises the " circumcised dog " of Aleppo. It is certainly 
meant that he was a Christian, but not a Roman Cath- 
olic. He has no faith in the personality of Satan, for 
he treats the cloven-foot as " a fable ;" yet he believes 
in the monkish form of obtaining absolution, inasmuch 
as he commends to Desdemona, as a remedy for her 
unhealthy physique, 

"A sequester from liberty, fasting, and prayer, 
Much, castigation — exercise devout." 

He has the notion that St. Peter keeps the keys of the 
celestial gate, for in his anger he compares Emilia to 
the opposite person who " keeps the gate of hell." And 
in his final speeches to Desdemona, whom he believes to 
be guilty of marital infidelity, he urges prayer and re- 
pentance, and he cries "Amen!" to her appeal to 
Heaven for mercy. Yet, in the face of these evidences 
of Christianity, he talks of the handkerchief which an 
Egyptian gave to his mother as only a superstitious 
pagan could speak. Shakespeare, perhaps, wrote as 
one would write in the spirit of the age when the Ref- 
ormation was contending with the bigotry of past 
times and all its associate absurdities, and the disciples 
of Wickliffe and Martin Luther were in a doubtful state 
of religious transition. 



157 

As, in Shakespeare's time, unacknowledged literary thefts 
were in fashion among all classes of writers, and es- 
pecially poets and dramatists, it is not surprising that 
he should have plagiarized ideas, figures of speech, and 
even language from the Italian. It was the popular 
literature of the day. Thus we find the play of 
Othello enriched with contributions from the Orlando 
Furioso and the Orlando Innamorato. The episode of 
the handkerchief doubtless is to be traced to the pas- 
sage in the former poem descriptive of " a tent which 
Cassandra gave to Hector, and which descended through 
Cleopatra to Constantine, who gave it to Melissa." The 
original manufacturer of the tent is spoken of as " Una 
donzella de la terra d' Ilia," (Troy,) who, in a " furor 
profetica," embroidered the whole " storied sheet " with 
her own hands two thousand years previously. To the 
Orlando Innamorato Shakespeare was probably in- 
debted for the exquisite passage, " Who steals my 
purse steals trash," and for the comparison of the pal- 
try theft to the terrible robbery of reputation. The 
original Italian is very striking : 

Che ruba un corno, un cavallo, un annella 

E simil cose, tra quelche discrezione 

E potrebbi chiamard ladroncello; 

Ma quel che ruba la reputazione 

Et de V altrui fatidie si fa belle 

Si puo chiamase assassino e ladrone, &c. 

The whole passage has been felicitously rendered by a 
distinguished American philologist in these words : 
" The man who steals a horn, a horse, a ring, 
Or such a trifle, thieves with moderation, 
And may be justly called a robberling ; 
But he who takes away a reputation 
And pranks the feathers from another's wing, 

His deed is robbery, assassination, 
And merits punishment so much the greater 
As he to right and truth is more a traitor. " 

The original of the character of Othello is said to have 
been one Cristofero Moro, Venetian Lord-Lieutenant of 
Cyprus from 1506 to 1508. There still exists on the 
island a round tower called Torsedel Moro, (the tower 
of the Moor,) which formed the headquarters of Cristo- 
fero. 



158 



Pabylon. In the Welsh parson's mode of pronouncing the 
" B," Sir Hugh Evans means Babylon. He is para- 
phrasing the 137th Psalm, " By the rivers, 1 ' &c. 

Pack, n. An accomplice ; ?;., to bargain with. 

Packing. Plotting ; fraud ; schemes ; combination. 

Pacorus. The son of Orades, King of Parthia. 

Paddock. The name by which toads were called, (from the 
Anglo-Saxon padde,) and from their supposed venomous 
properties were the imagined familiars of witches. 

Padua. In sending Portia {Merchant of Venice) to this 
city to consult a lawyer, Shakespeare shows that the old 
University then enjoyed a high reputation. Many of 
the best Italian lawyers graduated at the Institute and 
acquired the degree LL. D. 

Pagan. A dissolute character. 

Pageant. A show ; a dumb show. 

Paid. Punished ; overcome by liquor ; (a play upon a word 
which has other significations.) 

Painted cloth. Pious people and fortune-tellers hung pla- 
cards about the walls of their houses, on which were 
painted Scripture homilies, proverbs, and ambiguous 
sentences, like the utterances of Greek and Roman ora- 
cles. Complimentary phrases were likewise inscribed on 
cloth and exhibited in pageants and processions, as is 
now done. 

Pair. A case — as a case of pistols, instruments, &c. 

Painted imagery. Tapestry. 

Paissants. Peasants; JPauvres gens de France, "Poor 
French people." 

Pajock, Paiock. A peacock ; " a pas mesure " paiock in- 
dicated the grave, slow, and pompous pace of the pea- 
cock. 

Palabras. Words. 

Palatine. Prince or Count. The highest officer under the 
old German emperors, often employed as an ambassa- 
dor or representative at foreign courts. The possibly 
cold hauteur of such a functionary is felicitously described 
by Port lain reviewing the character of her suitor. He 



159 

loftily expects to be chosen, rather than descend from 
the pinnacle of his dignity to sue. 

Pale, v. Impale ; to encircle with a crown ; n., the " win- 
ter's pale," in Autolycus' song, refers to the color of the 
season's blood as compared with the red blood of spring. 

Pales. Includes ; in slips ; clips. 

Pall. To wrap ; to invest. 

Palled. Vapid ; exhausted ; sated. 

Palliament. A robe of honor and imperial dignitj^. 

Palmer. A pious wanderer, who carried a palm stalk, bough, 
or leaf. There was a difference between the Palmer 
and the Holy Pilgrim. The latter might have been a 
person in good circumstances visiting a hallowed shrine 
for once in his life. The former was a mendicant, who 
went about everywhere seeking alms. 

Palmy. Victorious ; happy and nourishing times. 

Palsied eld. Old age. 

Patter. To juggle; trifle; equivocate. 

Paly. Pale. 

Pang, v. To afflict. 

Pansies, (from pensees, Fr., "thoughts.") The heart's ease. 

Pantler. A butler ; one who has charge and direction of the 
pantry of a household. 

Pantaloon, (pantaleone, Ital.) A drivelling old man who has 
reached the sixth stage of life. 

Pants. Beatings of the heart ; pulsations. 

Paper. To commit to writing. 

Paragons. Things incomparable. 

Parca. Intended for parcw, the Fates, who cut the thread of 
human existence. 

Parcel, v. To reckon up. 

Parcel bawd. Half bawd. 

Parcel gilt. Partially gilt. 

Parcelled. Propertied. 

Pard. The leopard. 

Pardonnez mois. Fops who manifested their excessive polite- 
ness by saying "pardonnez moi" — -forgive me — on every 
frivolous pretence. 

Parish top. A large top kept for common use among the rus- 
tics. 



160 

Paris London. A place of resort for the lower classes in Lon- 
don, (South wark,) where such rude sports as bull and 
bear baiting were patronized. 

Pariter. An officer appointed to carry out a bishop's citation ; 
literally, to appear (paraitre, Fr.) on his behalf, and per- 
form other duties in spiritual courts. 

Parle. Talk. 

Parley. A conference in war. 

Par'lous. A corruption of '• perilous." 

Parrot. Frivolity ; folly in speech. 

Part. Part from ; depart. 

Partaker. Partisan ; accomplice. 

Parted. Gifted ; endowed with good parts. 

Partition. A hit at the division of long sermons into parts. 

Participate. Participator ; accomplice. 

Particular. Personally ; separately. 

Partizan. A pike or spear with a small axe or hook attached 
to it. The weapon is still borne by the Beef-Eaters, 
{JBuffeiiers) or Yeomen of the Guard at the British 
Court, (a corruption of Buffetier — the guard over the 
buffet or sideboard of plate at the Sovereign's table.) 

Pash, v. To strike crushingly ; n., the human head ; a young 
bull. 

Pass, v. To decide ; assure ; convey ; n., a head thickly 
patched with hair and adorned with* horns. ( Winter's 
Tales.) 

Passado ; Punto reverso. Terms in fencing. 

Passant. A heraldic technicality, descriptive of an animal 
trotting. 

Passed. Eminent. 

Passes. Trespasses ; evil courses. 

Passing. Exceeding. 

Passion. Emotion ; feeling ; taste ; liable to be swayed by 
affection. 

Pass not. Care not. 

Passy measures. See Paiock. 

Pastry. The pastry-room in a household. 

Pat. Now ; at this moment. 

Patch. A foolish servant. 

Patched. In a fool's motley garb. 



161 

Patcheny. Imposture. 

Patent. Permitted. 

Path. To walk. 

Pathetical. A promise breaker. 

Patient. To soothe. 

Patines. Thin plates of gold used at Roman Catholic masses 

to cover the chalice. 
Patronage, v. To patronize. 
Pattern, v. To offer an example. 
Pauca palabras Sessa. Sly, the cobbler, (Taming of the 

jShrevj,) has borrowed some Spanish words — pocas 

palabras, (few words,) and cessa, (cease, be quiet) — which 

he somewhat corrupts. 
Pauca verba. (Lat.) Few words ; soft words. 
Pavilion. A tent. 
Pavin. A dance ; a peacock. 
Pax Peace, the name given to a piece of plate used in 

Catholic masses ; it is kissed, and thence called the kiss 

of peace. 
Pay. To beat. 
Paysans. See Paissants. 

Pearl. A dew drop. " Many a pearl on every cowslip's ear." 
Peasant slave. Whether Shakespeare meant a rustic in a 

state of bondage or serfdom, or a Sclavonian peasant, is 

uncertain. 
Peat. Pet ; darling. 
Peck. To pitch ; throw. 
Pedascule. A pedant. 
Peeled. Bald. 
Peer. TO overflow gently. 
Peer out. Peep out. 
Peevish. Silly ; frivolous ; capricious. 
Peg a Ramsay. The title of an improper old song. 
Peize. To lengthen out ; prolong ; weigh well. Supposed to 

be derived from the French, peser, to weigh. 
Pelican. The fable which assigns to this bird the maternal 

sacrifice of its own blood from the heart, was probably 

founded upon the fact of its discharging, for the benefit 

of the young, the water and small fish accumulated in 

the huge membranous bag which hangs from its bill 

to its chest. 
14 



16£ 

Pell mell. Crowded ; clashing ; disorderly. 

Pelting, a. Paltry ; v., beating of rain and wind. 

Pencils. " Ware pencils," {Love's Labor Lost,) Beware the 

use of pencils for caricaturing purposes ; it might be 

dangerous. 
Penker. The provincial (monaster superior) of the Order of 

St. Augustine Friars. 
Pennons. Small flags or streamers bearing the mottoes and 

devices of knights. 
Pensioners. Vide Cowslips. 
Pentecost. Whitsuntide. 
Penthesilea. An Amazon. 
Perdition. Utterly lost. 
Perdu. (Fr.) Lost ; concealed ; one of the forlorn hopes in 

battle or a siege ; a detachment engaged in a perilous 

service, whence the military title, enfans perdus, " lost 

children." 
Perdurable. Lasting. 
Perdurably. Lastingly ; forever. 
Perdy. Corruption of Par Dieu, " By God." 
Perfect. Certain ; well informed. 
Perfections. Liver, brains, and heart. 
Perge. (Lat.) Proceed. 
Periapts. Charms worn about the person. 
Perigenia. A myth, if not a mistake for Perigore, a robber's 

daughter, by whom Theseus had a son. 
Period, v. To conclude ; extinguish. 
Periwig. A corruption of perruque, an arrangement of false 

hair not unknown in the Elizabethan era. 
Perjure. A perjurer. False swearing was punished by ex- 
posure in a pillory. 
Perpend. A pedantic substitute for reflect ; consider. 
Persantly. Powerfully ; authoritatively. . 
Per se. (Lat.) Of himself or by himself ; but, complimen- 

tally, a man without a parallel. 
Perseus' horse. The flying-horse, Pegasus, which sprang 

from the blood of Medusa when Perseus decapitated 

that personage. 
Person. Parson. 
Personage. Figure ; appearance. The word is applied com- 



163 

plinien tally to men and women of high rank. An 
" illustrious personage " implies a titled individual ; 
" illustrious " by courtesy only, for brains are not neces- 
sary to render adventitious rank even nominally lustrous. 

Perspectives. Telescopes. 

Per Styga per manes vehor, (Lat.) Thro' Styx the spirits are 
borne. 

Peruse. (In fencing,) to examine the foils. 

Pervert. To avert. 

Pestilence. Poison. 

Petard. An engine charged with explosive material for the 
purpose of blowing open gates of fortresses or explod- 
ing mines. It takes its name from the inventor, a 
French engineer. 

Petticose. To pocket ; appropriate. 

Pettiward. A district in Windsor. 

Pewfellow. A companion. 

Photon. The clumsy fellow who upset Sol's car was not 
Merope's son, {Two Gentlemen of Verona,) but Me- 
rope's brother. Merope was one of the Heliades who 
mourned the unhappy creature's fate. Phaeton was first 
drowned, then fished up and burnt. 

Phantasma. A fantastical vision. 

Pheere. Companion ; associate. 

Pheese. To tease ; worry. 

Philemon. See the story of Baucis and Philemon in Lem- 
priere's or Anthon's classical dictionaries. 

Philip and Jacob (or James.) To intimate that an event will 
occur ; " Come, such a time," is a form of saying, 
" When that time shall arrive." 

Philippa. The name of a sword used by Mark Antony in 
record of his conduct at the battle of Philippi. 

Philippi. A plain in Macedonia, which derived its appellation 
from Philip, the warlike father of Alexander the Great. 

Phill horse. See Thill horse. 

Philomel. The nightingale. 

Philomel. The story of Philomela, as told by Ovid, Virgil, 
&c , is, strangely enough, quoted by Aaron, the Moor, in 
Titus Andronicus, in allusion to his purpose of cutting 
out the tongue of Lavinia as Tereus did that of his 



164 

victim. Virgil lived and wrote in the reign of Augus- 
tus Caesar, and if the whole play of Titus Andronicus 
were not the ghostly phantasm of some wild contempo- 
rary of Shakespeare, one might fancy the Moor to have 
read or heard the horrible story. But the whole of the 
drama is a confused heap of monstrosities and anachro- 
nisms. It was not wholly Shakespeare's ; he may have 
contributed the better portion, poetically considered. 

Phisonomy. Corruption of physiognomy. 

Phoebe. One of the appellations of the moon, derived from 
the circumstance of her light resembling that of the 
sun. 

Phoebus' cart, or car. The chariot of the sun. Bottom {Mid- 
summer-Night's Dream) calls it Phibbus' car. 

Physic To heal. 

Pia mater. The membrane which covers the brain. 

Pick. To pitch or throw. 

Pick axes. The fingers. 

Picked. Foppish. 

Picked men. Very particular persons. 

Pickers and "Stealers." The hands ; the fingers. 

Picking. Paltry ; insignificant. 

Pickt hatch. Once a vile place in London noted for numer- 
ous brothels. 

Pick-think. A parasite. 

Piece. A contemptuous term for a woman of loose character 
and habits. 

Piece of work. The quality of a drama. Critics and report- 
ers commonly speak of a drama as a " piece." 

Pied ninny. A fool in motley or vari-colored costume. 

Pieled. Bald. Monks and friars who inhabited monasteries 
caused the crowns of their heads to be shaven. 

Pig. A "gaping pig-'' The sight of a boar's head with a 
lemon in the mouth, commonly exhibited at a Christ- 
mas dinner, was very offensive to some dainty persons, 
and especially to the Hebrews. 

Pigeon livered. Lacking gall. 

Pight. Resolved. 

Pilcher. A sword sheath. 

Piled. See Pieled. 



165 

Piled esteemed. Bereft of honors. 

Pilled. Pillaged ; peeled. 

Pin. A term in archery. 

Pinch and pay. Pay on delivery. 

Pinched thing. A puppet. 

Pinfold. A pound. 

Pinked porringer. A cap shaped like a porringer. 

Pink-eyene, eyne. Small eyes. 

Pinnace. A large, swift sailing boat. 

Pin of web. Disorder of the eye. 

Pioneer. From peon, (Hindostanee.) A foot runner or 
pionnier; foot soldier. The word has come to signify a 
guide or pilot. In modern armies the pioneers are the 
men who carry axes, picks, spades, &c, and march in 
front to clear roads and forests, establish pontoon 
bridges, &c, to facilitate the progress of the force. The 
French call them sapeurs, and a corps of sappers, 
directed by officers of the engineer corps, are now a 
separate branch of the British army. 

Pioned. Dug. 

Pip. A spot upon a card used in an old game called one-and- 
thirty. 

Pipes. Reeds which erst formed the shepherd's musical in- 
strument. 

Pipe wine. Wine from the wood or cask. 

Pippins. A superior kind of apple eaten with cheese at old 
English desserts. 

Pitch a field. To establish stockades and palisades in order 
to defend a position in battle. 

Pitch and pay. Pay under any circumstances. 

Pith. Substance ; consequence. 

Pithless. Devoid of stamina. 

Pitted. Spotted ; marked, as with the small-pox. 

Pix. The box that contains the wafer consecrated by Roman 
Catholic priests, and called the " host," or emblem of 
the Saviour. The " elevation of the host " by a priest at 
the performance of mass is a signal for all present to 
fall upon their knees and strike their breasts, invoking 
pardon, and significantly declaring their penitence. 

Place. A mansion. 



166 

Place's pkivilege. The sanctuary recognized in the Temple, 
(London.) 

Placket. A petticoat ; also, a parse. 

Plague. To punish. 

Plain. To complain. 

Plainly. Openly. 

Plain song. Uniformity of tone. The cuckoo's note is of this 
character. 

Plaited. Complicated. 

Planched. Made of planks. 

Planets-strike. Affected by the planets. To be moon-struck 
is almost as common in some climates as in others to 
experience a coup-de-soleil. 

Plant. The foot. 

Plantage. Vegetation ; the plantain. It was believed that 
the moon had an influence on the growth of plants, 
" Hence, true as steel, or plantage to the moon." 

Plantagenet. The agenet or broom having been worn as 
a crest by a descendant of Geoffry, Earl of Anjou, with 
the prefix " plant," it became the adopted surname of 
the family. 

Plants and Flowees. Of the English wild flowers Shakes- 
peare mentions about fifteen, alluding to some only 
once or twice. Of exotic flowers, or such as were cul- 
tivated in the scanty gardens of his period, he mentions 
nine or ten. Of trees and shrubs, exotics included, 
there are notices of about twenty -five. Of fruits, whether 
ripened in England or imported from foreign countries, 
there are given the names (often recurrent) of about thirty. 
Vegetables are spoken of in about equal proportion. 
Products of the nature of spices and medicines are 
mentioned to the extent of a score, and the same is 
nearly the number of what are contemptuously called 
"weeds." The total is thus about one hundred and 
fifty, or considerably higher. And it must be remem- 
bered that Shakespeare did not set out with a view of 
talking about trees and plants. His designs were very 
different, and the allusions are only casual and inci- 
dental, a circumstance which renders the total of one 
hundred and fifty truly remarkable. Botany in Shakes- 



167 

peare's time had scarcely obtained a footing, and few of 
the English wild flowers had been discriminated. 
Shakespeare had no " Floras " to consult. It is doubt- 
ful if he could have found even a botanical teacher. 
His library was Nature ; his vocabulary little more than 
the vernacular, and glorious is the use he has made of 
it. Having only simple plants to deal with, he has 
shown us how all comes right to a master ; that the 
cowslip is every bit as good an illustration and comes 
charged with as much beauty as the proudest ladia, or 
any other floral aristocrat, that science and an enlarged 
botanical field has provided us. 

Plate. A silver coin- 

Platform. Plans ; schemes ; principles. The word occurs in 
Dr. Heylin's History of the Sabbath, published in 1636, 
and refers to the platform of Geneva, or the religious 
code established by Calvin. " The word is likewise 
used by Lord Bacon. 

Plausive. Plausible. 

Play a woman. See Women. 

Players. Shakespeare's sympathy with the profession of 
which he was at one time a member is made manifest 
on several occasions. He especially recognizes the 
principles and purposes of the stage (as laid down by 
Jeremy Collier) in Hamletis interviews with the players. 
The Prince right royally desires that they "be well 
bestowed,*' for, as he says, " they are the abstracts and 
brief chronicles of the time, and 't were better to have a 
bad epitaph after one's death than their ill repast while 
their entertainer liveth." Further, Shakespeare ridicules 
the artificers who play Pyramus and Thisbe because 
they usurp the functions of the professional actor, and 
he uses the poor player to illustrate the evanescence of 
life — "the walking shadow." 

Play the man. Show yourselves like men. 

Pleach. To fold the arms. 

Pleasaunce. Pleasure. 

Pleasure. Gracious ; applauded. 

Plebeii. The common people. 

Pleurisy. A disease of the throat or chest. 



168 

Plurisy. Superabundance. 

There is some confusion respecting the orthography of 
the two foregoing words. In some editions the latter 
is used to signify the former. 

Plind. Blind. The Welsh, like the Germans, often pro- 
nounce the letter " B " in English as if it were P, and 
vice versa. 

Plot. Portion. 

Pluck. To urge ; to induce : snatch. 

Pluck off. To abate consequence and discard. 

Plume up. Decorate ; finish. 

Plummet. A leaden weight. In alluding to the influence of 
the learning of Sir Hugh Evans, in his speech, Falstaff 
unconsciously employs an old French phrase, " he gives 
le plomb to his parlance.' 1 '' 

Plutus The heathen god of riches had the credit of being 
a good alchemist, who by means of a tinct and multi- 
plying medicine (AIVs Well That Ends Well) could 
transmute metals, converting the basest to gold. 

Point, v. Allay ; direct ; minutely to observe instruction. 

Point de vice. (Fr.) Neat and nice at all points, especially in 
costumes and appliances. 

Points. Periods ; punctuation ; full stops. 

Poise, v To weigh; n., weight. 

Poking Stick. A laundress's implement for fluting frills and 
ruffs. 

Polacks. Poles. We are to suppose that the buried Majesty 
of Denmark was, in his lifetime, a formidable warrior, 
fighting with all his northern neighbors, the Norwegians 
and the Poles. The Polish territory, before the dis- 
memberment of the Kingdom, stretched to the very 
confines of Denmark, which, when Schleswig Holstein 
formed part of the State, extended to the east far be- 
yond its present limits. * 

Poll. To crop the hair close. 

Polled. Laid bare. 

Pomander. A little ball of perfumed paste carried about the 
person as an antidote to infection. 

Pome, (or jPomme, Fr.) water; the juice of a certain apple. 

Pompey. Pompeius Magnus. Pompey the Great in the 



169 

plenitude of his power, erected a spacious theatre in 
Rome, and it is to the porch of that theatre itself that 
reference is made in Act I, Scene I, of Julius Ccesar. 
It was likewise, in truth, the scene of the murder of 
Csesar, but Shakespeare has adopted the capital as the 
actual locality of that event. 

Pontic Sea. The Pontus Euxinus — the Euxine, or Black 
Sea. 

Poor John. An inferior kind of fish, dried and salted ; 
probably the hake. 

Popinjay. A parrot ; an object for marksmen. 

Popularity. Familiarity with the common herd. 

Porpentine. The porcupine. It has been assumed that 
Shakespeare was unacquainted with the name which 
naturalists have given to this animal, combining porcus 
(the pig) with spina (thorn.) But that he was familiar 
with the nature and properties of the porcupine is clear 
from the allusion to its quills and fretfumess in Ham- 
let. 

Port. Carriage ; appearance ; " a swelling port ;" outward 
show ; also, the gate of a fortress or castle. 

Portable. Endurable. 

Portage. Loop-holes. 

Portance. Importance ; carriage ; deportment. 

Portia. Roman history has assigned so lofty a character to 
" Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia," that Shakespeare 
supplied Bassanio {Merchant of Venice) with an apt 
comparison when he likened the lady of Belmont to the 
Roman matron. There is no more beautiful picture 
extant of a true gentlewoman than Shakespeare's Vene- 
tian Portia. 

Possess. To inform ; haunt the mind ; bewitch. 

Possession. Property. 

Post. To score ; to announce. Out of this word that of 
" posted," or become familiar with any fact or branch 
of knowledge, has been adopted in the United States of 
America. The ancients were accustomed to make use 
of posts or pillars of wood on which " the news " was 
inscribed from day to day. As sculpture in marble su- 
perseded wood, these pillars were dedicated to Mercury, 
15 



170 

the messenger of the gods, whence the proverb, " JEx- 
quores Ugno non Jit Mercurius" " You cannot make a 
Mercury of wood." This proverb has degenerated, and 
" You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear," is 
its ignoble successor. 

Postern gate. The smaller gate of a fortress. 

Posts. Messengers ; post-horses. The compound, " Post- 
haste," implied the rapidity with which the messengers 
travelled. 

Posy. A couplet. It was a practice to inscribe posies on 
sword and knife blades and on the inner circle of rings. 

Potations. Draughts of drink of pottle measure. 

Potato-fingers. A lascivious tendency. 

Potch. To push ; poke. 

Potents. Potentates. 

Poulter. A poulterer. 

Pouncet box. A small box perforated ; a depository of per- 
fumery. 

Pound. Twenty shillings in coin ; an enclosure for captured 
stray animals ; a weight. 

Pourquoi? (Fr.) Why? For what? 

Powers. Military strength ; battalions. 

Poynt. The former method of spelling point; a French word 
often used as a negation. 

Practice. Treachery. 

Practisants. Confederates in schemes. 

Prank. To adorn. 

Precedent. The draft of a law or indictment ; the original 
of any document ; a previous event quoted as authority 
for a later action. 

Precept. A judge's warrant. 

Preciously. Engaged in important business. 

Precision. The Puritans of the 16th and 17th centuries be- 
ing very precise and matter-of-fact in their language, as 
well as severe in their manner and simple in their cos- 
tume, acquired this appellation. In Massinger's play, 
A JSTew Way to Pay Old Debts, the uncharitableness 
of a Puritan is rebuked by Wellborn in the phrase, 
" The devil turned Precision." 

Predominence. Arrogance ; assumption. 



.17.1 

Preeches or preeched (for breeched.) Flagged. 

Pregnant. Full; quick; ready; compliant; palpable; sup- 
ple. 

Pregnancy. Large capacity. 

Premised. Sent before their time ; susceptible of proof. 

Prenez misericorde, &c. See Appendix for a translation of 
the dialogues in Henry V. 

Prenominate. The crimes already charged in an indictment 
or arraignment. 

Preordinance. An old established law. 

Preposterously. Extravagantly ; egregiously ; perversely. 

Presage. To foretell, or foresee. 

Presence. The royal person, or the chief room in a regal 
abode. 

Presently. Quickly ; instantly. 

Press-money. Cash paid to impress men for service in the 
army or navy. 

Prest. Ready. 

Pretence. Design. 

Pretend. Portends. 

Prevent. Anticipate. Also see Suicide. 

Prick. To note ; mark. 

Pricket. A buck (deer) of the second year. 

Prick- song. A song set to music. 

Pride. Power. 

Prig. To pilfer ; n., a thief. 

Prime. The vigor and climax of health ; the spring. 

Primer. Superior ; of chief consequence ; time of life. 

Primero. A popular game with cards. 

Principality. The highest position in a State; next to 
royalty. 

Princox. A fop. 

Priority. Precedence. 

Priser. An athlete who contended for a prize. 

Privelegio (Lat.) With privilege. "The place's privilege," 
meant the protection afforded by the Temple in London, 
then a sanctuary in virtue of its being a place of worship. 

Prize. Privilege ; the licensed prerogative of victory. 

Probal. Probable. 

Probation. Proof ; anything proved. 



172 

Proceeding. Advancement ; action. 

Process. Summons; command; "Fulvia's process" — the 

jealous suggestion of Cleopatra that Fulvia's power 

over Antony is equivalent to Ccesar's. 
Procurator. A deputy or agent for another. 
Procure. To bring. 

Prodigious. Portentous ; something wonderful. 
Proditor. Traitor. 
Prcemunire. A writ in la"w ; warning of a prohibition. A 

proemunire puts a certain class of offenders out of the 

protection of the law. 
Proface. To talk grossly, (Ital.) An expression tantamont to 

much good may it do you. 
Profanely. Libellously ; heathenly. 
Prognostication. An almanac. 
Progress. A royal journey in state. 
Project, v. To shape ; delineate. 
Promised forth. Engaged from home by invitation. 
Prompture. Suggestion. 
Prone. Humble ; also, prompt ; ready-witted ; influence ; 

" a prone and speechless dialect.' 1 
Pronounce. Speak out ! 
Proof. Armored protection ; puberty. 
Propagate. To advance ; spread ; improve. 
Propagation. Obtaining. 
Propension. Inclination ; tendency. 

Proper. As applied to the person, " handsome," and (as prop- 
erty) to a quality of possession " peculiar to one's self." 
Proper-false. Deceptive. 
Propertied. Possessed ; appropriated. 
Properties. Necessaries incidental to stage plays. 
Property, v. To take possession. 
Prophet. The individual named fete?; whom the Bastard 

{King John) brought with him from the streets of Ponte- 

fract, (Pomfret,) gave utterance to a prophecy that cost 

him his life. 
Proportion. Relative fitness ; form or formula. 
Propose. Discuss. 
Proscription. Condemnation. 
Protixious. Coy ; delaying ; tedious. 



173 

Provand. Food. 

Pro vi faccio. (Ital.) "For you I have done this." 

Provincial, n. Principal of a religious order in a French 
province. 

Provision, Prevision. Forethought or calculation. 

Provost. A magistrate ; a jailor. 

Prune, v. To ruffle and dress the feathers as hawks do in 
falconry ; n., a " stewed prune " expresses a doubt of the 
genuine prune. 

Ptolemy, (Queen.) See Cleopatra, {Antony and Cleopatra.) 

Pucelle, (La Pdcelle.) The name by which Joan of Arc 
(Jeanne d'Arc, the Maid of Orleans) was called by the 
French. 

Puck. A very mischievous sprite, sometimes called Robin 
Goodfellow. In the old ballads, anterior to Shakes- 
peare, the name is spelt Pouk and Pouke. The milk- 
maids called him " sweet Puck" because they had a 
notion that while they slept he did the churning for 
them. He asserts his " honesty " in the concluding lines 
of Midsummer-Night 1 s Dream, — Qui s' excuse, s" accuse. 

Puddle. A pool of water. Gilded, as applied to this affair, 
refers to the shining, slimy surface. 

Puddled. Muddied ; thickened. 

Puevitia. Little boy. 

Pug. To steal. 

Puggard. A thief. 

Pugging. Thievish. 

Puissant. Powerful. 

Puke. A kind of brown color. 

Pull. To falter ; hesitate. 

Pullet sperm. Eggs. 

Pulsidge. Pulse. 

Pummel. A sword handle or hilt. 

Pumps. Thin shoes. 

Pun. To pound. 

Purchased. Purloined ; irregularly obtained. 

Purl. To curl. 

Purlieu. Border ; neighborhood. 

Purple. Bloody : incarnadined. 

Purse. To wrinkle ; contract ; deposit money. 



174 

Pursuivant. A herald ; a forerunner. 

Pursy. Inflated ; swollen ; heavy. 

Purveyor. One who provides food, or news. 

Pussell. A low woman. 

Put. To compel. 

Putter out. A money-lender. 

Putting on. Inciting. 

Puttock. A .hawk. 

Pyramus. The hero of Ovid's fable of " Pyramus and Thisby," 
dramatized after a fashion in Midsummer- Night's 
Dream. 

Pyrrhus. One of the heroes of the Odyssey. 

Pythagoras. The doctrine of Metempsychosis, the transition 
of the soul from one body to another, was borrowed by 
this old philosopher of Samos either from the Egyptians 
or a caste of Indians. It has furnished Shakespeare with 
more than one happy jest. 

Q. 

Quail, v. To sink ; faint ; be vanquished. 

Quaint, n. Majes — an old game ; neat ; unpretending ; 
graceful. 

Quaintly. Daintily ; delicately ; gracefully ; also, artfully. 

Quaked. Thrown into grateful trepidation. 

Qualification. Pacification. 

Quality. To moderate ; dilute. 

Quality. Condition ; class ; confederates. 

Quantity. Holding no quantity; signifies having nothing 
lovable in them. 

Quarrel. A disputant. 

Quarrel in print. A book on " Honor and Honorable Quar- 
rel " was a noted guide for duellists in 1594. 

Quarry. A pile ; a heap ; slaughtered game. 

Quart d'ecu. (Fr.) The quarter of a French crown piece. 

Quarter, v. To spare life in war ; to mingle the devices of 
the coat-of-arms of one family with those of another. 

Quartered fires. Fires in soldiers' quarters. 

Quasi. (Lat.) As if ; as it were. 

Quat. A simpleton ; a pimple. 



175 

Quean. A low woman. 

Queasiness. Nausea. 

Queasy. Delicate ; unsettled. 

Que dit il ! What does he say ! (N. B. The residue of the 
French dialogue beginning thus is given elsewhere.) 

Queen Mab. The fair queen of dreams, called the " fairy 
midwife " because the accoucheuse of strange thoughts 
and whimsical images. 

Queen or Tunis. " She that dwells ten leagues beyond man's 
life." Taking the life of man at the Scriptural estimate 
of three score and ten, this is a roundabout way of 
saying 100 miles from Naples — one of Shakespeare's 
guesses at localities on the shores of the Mediterranean. 
Either the charts in his day were very rare and imper- 
fectj or he was not addicted to " peering for ports and 
places." 

Quell, v. To crush ; subdue ; n., a crime. 

Quench. To grow cool. 

Quern. A churn or hand-mill for grinding corn. 

Quest. Pursuit. 

Questerist. One sent in quest or search of others. 

Quests. Searchers, as " Crowner's Quests ;" investigators of 
causes of death. 

Question. Either a verb or a noun according to circumstan- 
ces. As a verb, " to argue with any one ;" question 
(examine) your thoughts. As a noun, a point to be con- 
sidered — " that's the question." 

Qui. (Fr.) Who; whom. Qui a les narines defeu : "Whose 
nostrils are of fire." 

Qui va la ? (Fr.) " Who goes there !" A military challenge. 
Qui vive 1 " Who lives ?" is more common in modern 
times. 

Quick. Sensitive of a wound or ulcer. 

Quicken. To revive ; come to life again. 

Quiddits — Quiddities. Subtleties ; ambiguities. 

Quid pro quo. (Lat.) Which for what ; one thing for another ; 
" tit for tat ;" a fair exchange. 

Quietus. In legal phrase, " a discharge ;" employed fig- 
uratively, it implies suicide. 

Quill, ad. Altogether ; n., a little feather ; a delicate pipe. 



176 

Quillets. Legal niceties. 

Quilt. A bed coverlet. 

Quintain. A figure set up as a target for sport of archers, 
lancers, and other marksmen. Synonymous with Pop- 
injay. 

Quips. Taunts ; repartees. 

Quiee. (Choir.) To sing or play in concert. 

Quirks. Sharp passages. 

Quit. Away from ; requite ; getting rid of a trouble. 

Quittance. Revival ; a return blow. 

Quiver Active ; nimble ; "a little quiver fellow." 

Quoif. A cap. 

Quoit, v. To throw ; pitch ; as at a game of quoits. 

Quondam. (Lat.) Former; late. 

Quoniam. (Lat.) Albeit. 

Quote. To observe ; note ; cite. 

Quotidion. Daily. 

R 

Rabato. A neck ornament. 

Rabbit-sucker. A leveret ; a sucking rabbit. 

Rabelais. A witty work by a Frenchman. 

Rack, n. Flavor ; breed ; inherited nature. 

Rack, ad. The floating away of clouds ; v., to wreck ; ex- 
aggerate ; value exceedingly ; n., an ingenious instru- 
ment used by the Spaniards and Venetians to break the 
bones of people who would not confess their own guilt 
or betray their friends and confederates. If confession 
(for, under the torture, "men would say anything,") 
implied culpability, the rack would answer the purpose 
of a guillotine and take away the life of the culprit. 
The justice of the operation was akin to that which in- 
duced ignorant, brutal rustics in England, and New 
England, U. S. America, to cast a poor woman into a 
pond on the supposition that she was a witch. If she 
escaped drowning her guilt was clear, and therefore it 
was deemed right to put her to death as the penalty of 
practising her alleged mischievous profession. 

Racking. In rapid motion. 



177 

Rag. An opprobrious term. 

Ragged. Rugged ; rough. 

Rake. To cover. 

Rakes. Stern instruments ; lean, starved men. 

Ram. A weapon used in sieges. It was a long and heavy 
pole having a large brass head resembling that of the 
male sheep, and was used by the Roman soldiers to 
swing with main force against the gate or wall of a for- 
tress to make breaching gaps. 

Ramp. Abridgment of rampallion ; a strumpet. 

Rampered. Fortified. 

Rang'd. Well arranged. 

Rank, ad. Lofty ; n., slow rate or pace ; a trot or amble ; 
a., offensive from excess of ripeness. 

Rank garb. Straightforward fashion. 

Rankness. Straying beyond the ranks of regularity. 

Rapt. Lost in meditation ; delighted ; in a state of rapture. 

Rapture. A fit. 

Rarely. Curiously. 

Rascal. An inferior deer ; a scamp. 

Rascal-counters. Common money. 

Rase. To tear off. 

Rash remonstrance. Premature discovery. 

Rate. Opinion ; value. 

Ratotorum. A mistake for ratulorum. The rolls ; public 
records. 

Rat tail. The witch in Macbeth, who proposes to play the 
part of a " rat without a tail," suggests that the caudal 
appendage would be in the way of her mischievous per- 
formance, or that its absence rendered the animal 
vengeful. 

Raught. Seized ; reached. 

Ravel. To sew up. 

Raven. This bird, which our remote forefathers supposed to 
be of ill omen, is glanced at by Lady Macbeth : " The 
raven himself is hoarse that croaks the fatal entrance of 
Duncan under my battlements." Shakespeare owed 
something to his predecessor, Christopher Marlowe, and 
it is not unlikely that he caught the idea expressed in 
the above line from Marlowe's Jew of Malta : " Like 



178 

the sad presaging raven that tolls the sick man's pass- 
ports in her hollow beak." The raven has formed 
the subject of one of the most striking and original 
poems the Muse ever suggested to the American mind. 
Edgar Allan Poe's narrative of a midnight incident in a 
"bleak December " will be read and recited wherever 
and* whenever the English language is spoken. An at- 
tempt was made by a writer in an English periodical, 
some years ago, to prove that Poe had derived the poem 
from the Persian. The best Oriental scholars proved 
the fallacy of this conjecture, for it could have been 
nothing more. The raven is not deemed a bird of ill 
omen in Persia. No Persian could have a bust of Pal- 
las, or any one else, in his house, and as for pondering 
over old books, the Persian knows of nothing older than 
Hafiz, Ferdosi, Jami, or Sadi. 

Ravin. To swallow hastily ; devour greedily. 

Ravened. Glutted with prey. 

Rawly. Suddenly ; imperfectly ; poorly. 

Rawness. Unprovided condition. 

Rayed. Betrayed. 

Razed, or root, n. A measure applied to ginger and bul- 
bous vegetables ; a bale ; v., to efface. 

Razed. Slashed ; blisterad ; an opening made in a doublet, 
or breeches, and filled up with a puff of satin or velvet 
as a decoration ; sometimes called a " blister." 

Rear-mouse. A bat. 

Reason. Discourse; argue. 

Rebate. To blunt ; reduce ; qualify ; dull. 

Rebeck. A musical instrument. 

Rebuse. Abuse. 

Receipt. Receptacle. 

Receiving. Quick of apprehension. 

Recheat: A horn blast in hunting to call off the dogs. 

Reck, v. To care for. 

Reckoner. Rank ; character. 

Record, v. To sing. 

Recorder. A musical instrument, in structure like a flageolet. 
Its tones are described as resembling the warbling and 
whistling of birds. 



179 

Records. Documents ; memoranda. 

Recourse. Recurrence. 

Recover wind. To get to the windward again in coursing. 

Recreant. False-hearted ; pusillanimous. 

Rectorship. Righteousness. 

Recure. To cure; recover. 

Redbreast teacher. A vocal instructor. The Robin Red- 
breast has a pretty note. 

Redime te captum quam queas minimo, (Lat.) Redeem (or 
Ransom) thyself, a captive, for the smallest sum thou 
canst. 

Red dominical. The Sunday letter in calendars. 

Red-hot steel. An iron crown heated red-hot and placed on 
the heads of regicides and other great criminals. 

Red-lettuce (or lattice) phrases. Ale-house talk ; work 
painted red. The windows of such places were filled 
with lattice-work. 

Red Plague. A disease known as St. Anthony's fire ; erysip- 
elas. 

Reduce. Restore. 

Reechy. Discolored with smoke. It is sometimes called and 
written Reekie. 

Reedify. To restore ; beautify. 

Reek. Smoke. 

Refell. To refute an argument or contradict a statement. 

Refer. To reserve to. 

Regal. A circlet ; a crown. 

Regard. Look. 

Regiment. Authority ; government. 

Region. The empyreum ; a space ; a kingdom. 

Regreet. To salute in return for a polite greeting. 

Reguerdon. Recompense. 

Reins. The kidneys ; a French word Anglicised. 

Rejourn. Adjourn. 

Relative. Applicable. 

Religious. This word, used as an adjective in As You Like 
It, shows that something of the phraseology of the play 
had a French origin. A religieux simply means an an- 
chorite. Rosalind, in mentioning an old religious uncle, 
does not mean a person of a peculiarly pious habit and 



180 

turn of mind, but a hermit, who, having been crossed in 
love, retired from the world to meditate on the insta- 
bility of human affairs. 

Relume. Light again that which has been extinguished. 

Remembers. Reminders. 

Remembrance. Admiration. 

Remission. Pardon. 

Remonstrance. Display. 

Remorse. Pity ; compassion ; sorrow ; repentance. 

Remorseful. Pitiful. 

Remotion. The act of removing. 

Removed, n. Remote ; sequestered. Iago used the verb 
"remove" in the sense of murder. He speaks of the 
" removing " of Cassio by knocking him on the head. 

Removes. Stages of a journey. 

Renages or Raneges. Disdains ; refuses ; casts off. 

Render. To describe ; reply to ; return ; confess. " Sor- 
rowed render," a confession. 

Rendezvous. (Fr.) Repair thither ; an intended place of meet- 
ing. 

Repair, v. To renovate ; renew. 

Repairing. Capable of rallying. 

Repeal. Recall ; also a plea for pardon. 

Reports. Reporters. 

Reproof. Confutation. 

Reprove. Disprove. 

Repugn. To resist. 

Repute. To boast. 

Requiem. A mass for the repose of departed souls. 

Reserve. To keep ; preserve. 

Resolve. To inform decisively. 

Resolve. To dissolve ; to be assured. 

Respect. Contrast ; comparison ; opinion. 

Respective. Respectful ; comparative ; corresponding. 

Respects. Motives of action. 

Respice finem. (Lat.) Have respect to the end. Be provi- 
dent ; forewarned. 

Rest. Determination ; resolution. 

Rested. Abbreviation of arrested. In the dialogue of Dro- 
mio and Adrian, [Comedy of Errors,) the vulgar law 



181 

terms of the former imply a form of suit more applica- 
ble to English than Athenian practice. 

Restern. To wind about ; return. 

Rest your fair. A salutation of bygone times similar to the 
Salaam Aleikoram, " Peace be with you," of the Ori- 
entals. 

Resty. Dull ; heavy. 

Retailed. Entailed, (in law ;) handed down to immediate 
posterity ; recounted. 

Retire. Withdraw. In military parlance, "retreat." 

Retook. To repay. " I will retook the sum in equipage " — 
i. e., give service in repayment. 

Retort. Refer back. 

Retrograde. Opposed to ; going back. 

Return. Make reply. 

Revenue. Public or private means and resources. In the 
pronunciation of this word the emphasis is laid upon 
rev or ven according to the metre of the verse. 

Reverb. To reverberate. 

Reverence. A title of respect which an elder son inherited 
from his sire. 

Revolt. To turn back. 

Revolt of mien. A change of countenance ; an altered ex- 
pression, the danger of which lies in its raising suspi- 
cion. "To be like the time look like the time." {Mac- 
beth.) 

Revolts. Rebels. 

Rheum. A watery effusion from the head, whence "rheumy," 
(damp,) rheumatic ; also, tears. 

Rib. To enclose. 

Rid. Destroy ; kill ; " The red plague rid you !" 

Riddling. From " riddle ; " ambiguous ; figurative ; enig- 
matical. 

R1ENPUIS? l'air et le feu ! (Fr.) "Nothing more? Air and 
fire !" 

Rift. Riven ; torn ; split. 

Riggish. Wanton. 

Right, n. Justice ; v., to avenge. 

Right-drawn. The sword drawn in a good and justifiable 
cause. 



182 

Rigot. A circle. 

Rim. Money. 

Ringed. Encircled. 

Rings. " Bleeding rings " — the bleeding sockets of Gloster's 
eyes. {King Lear.) 

Ring-time. The time of marriage. 

Ripe. Tipsy. 

Ripened. Maturity. 

Ripeness. Readiness. 

Rites. Funereal ceremonies. 

Rivage. The sea-shore. 

Rivality. Equal rank. 

Rivals. Corrivals ; comrades on a military guard or watch ; 
equals. 

Rive. To burst ; to fire. 

Rivo ! A Spanish call for "More drink!' 1 Uncle derivatus" 1 . 
Attach rivus to fontes and we get at the etymon. 

Roba. One of the many terms applied to a lost woman. 

Robin Goodfellow. See Puck. 

Robin Hood. A famous forester and robber, the subject of 
many a ballad. Tradition says he was Earl of Hunt- 
ingdon, banished in the reign of Coeur de Lion. 

Rod. The silver sceptre held by sovereigns at a coronation ; 
the emblem of the power to chastise. The same symbol 
is seen on the figures of the Assyrian rulers discovered 
amidst the ruins of Nineveh. 

Roister or Royster. Violent ; dissipated. 

Romage. Disturbance ; bustle ; vulgarised to " rummage." 

Rome. Roum; Room. As Shakespeare has punned on the 
appellation of the capital of Italy, it is conjectured that 
" Room " must have represented the pronunciation in 
force in the Elizabethan era. To this hour Constanti- 
nople is called Roum by the people of Asia Minor and 
the Danubian principalities, because Byzantium was the 
seat of the government of the Romans under Constan- 
tine. Roumelia perpetuates the name. The city was 
the seat of the Pontificate in the 16th century. 

Romish. Roman. 

Ronyon. A poor creature fed on the coarsest meat ; also a 
scrofulous person. 



183 

Bood. The Holy Cross "by the rood ;" an old adjuration, 
" by the holy rood." 

Rook. To squat ; to adopt as a dwelling. 

Ropery. Roguery ; banter. 

Ropetrick. A cant term for rogueries. 

Roscius. A Roman actor of great renown. 

Rose. The origin of the adoption of the red and white roses 
by the respective representatives of the Houses of York 
and Lancaster, as given in Shakespeare's Henry VI 
First Part, Scene IV, "The Temple Garden, London," 
was the popular tradition in the reign of Elizabeth, but 
there is no written authority for the incident. It is 
certain, however, that the Yorkists adopted the white 
and the Lancasters the red rose, and Shakespeare found 
in the selection, by the disputative noblemen, a field for 
a happy reference to the colors and supposed attributes 
of the flowers. 

Rosemary. A plant emblematic of grace. The language of 
flowers, of which use as made by Ophelia was a favorite 
means of silent and secret communication in olden 
times as it still is said to be in Turkey. The' t herb pos- 
sesses a peculiar flavor and was used to impart a pleas- 
ant taste to a cup of beer. Walter Scott alludes to it 
in Woodstock : " De Rochecliffe preferred a cup of 
small beer stirred with a sprig of rosemary to strong 
potations." 

Rote. To get by rote means that the letter has been mas- 
tered but not the spirit. By frequent repetition, the 
words of any poem, speech, or dramatic role may be 
got by rote. In stage parlance, to be " letter perfect " 
is a great matter, but it does not help the understand- 
ing of a dull man. 

Round, n. A diadem ; a dance ; a., blunt ; direct ; to the 
point. See Roundly. 

Rounded. Whispered sinisterly. 

Roundel. A country dance. 

Roundly. Fearlessly ; openly. 

Roundure. Circled enclosure. 

Rouse. Brief for "carouse." The word is said to be of 
Danish origin. The Danes had a bad repute for intem- 
perance in the 16th century. See Hamlet and Othello. 



184 

Roy. The King. The ancient mode of spelling Hoi, (Fr.) 
Royal. A coin (real) valued at ten shillings English. 
Royal Merchant. See Merchant. 
Roynish, n. Mangy ; v., to be roynish — from the French word 

ronger, to gnaw ; rust. 
Rub. The point ; the difficulty ; the hitch ; impediment. 
Rubious. Ruddy. 
Rub on and kiss the mistress. A phrase in the old game, of 

bowls. 
Ruddock. The redbreast. 

Rue. A wild flower ; the emblem of sorrow ; regret. 
Ruffianed. Roughened. 
Ruffle. To be noisy. 
Ruffling. Rustling. 
Ruffs. The decorations of the cuffs of coats and the tops of 

boots. 
Rugged or ragged. These words had the same signification 

in Shakespeare's time. 
Rug-headed. Having rough, unkempt hair, peculiar to the 

dirty Irish peasantry. 
Rule. Synonymous with " Revel." The master of the Revels 

was called " The Abbot of Misrule." 
Rump fed. Fed with offal. 
Rush. A straw. 
Rushling. Rustling. 
Russet-pated. See Chough. 
Ruth. Pity. 
Ruthful. Woful. 

Rut time. The breeding time of deer. 
Ruttish. Lascivious. 



s 



Saba. There are three persons of this name mentioned in 
Scripture, but as Saba and Sheba are synonymous (de- 
scended from Ham,) the famous Queen who visited Solo- 
mon is no doubt the person meant in Act V, Scene IV, 
Henry VIII. 

Sabbath. Shylock swears by the "Holy Sabbath" of the 



185 

Jews. The prevalent idea is that the Jewish Sabbath 
was instituted by Moses when the fourth commandment 
was promulgated. This is an error. Moses only by 
divine inspiration and authority gave a religious signifi- 
cance to a day already established. He laid down rules 
for its observance, and in the fourth commandment the 
reason for the rules was given. Long before the time of 
Moses a race called the Sabsens existed. This race is 
referred to in Job i, 16, and the wise men of the race 
were called Sabse. They came together at certain phases 
of the moon for consultation on state and religious mat- 
ters. These days were called Sabadays from this cir- 
cumstance. It is therefore a probability that the Hebrew 
nation borrowed the name from the earlier race and 
applied it to the seventh day of their week. The He- 
brew word Shabath, meaning to cease or to rest, is prob- 
ably drawn from the Sabsean race. Be this, however, 
as it may, the fact remains that the Jews were accus- 
tomed to rest one day in seven, before the law was pro- 
claimed by Moses, (see Exodus, xx,) and that law was 
binding upon the Jews alone. It was not given to the 
Gentiles. The law prohibited servile work upon that 
day, but made no mention of pleasure or amusements. 
It did not command attendance on religious worship, 
and it was not until the time of Nehemiah that any but 
casual references are made to it, and these references 
are to a day of rest and joy exalted above other 
days, but with no deeper significance. Nehemiah, how- 
ever, gave more rigid construction to the law, and it was 
so rigorously upheld that about one hundred years after 
the people would not stir in defence of the city of Jerusa- 
lem when it was stormed by the soldiers of Ptolemy on 
the Sabbath. But Moses had no idea of all this, and 
his Sabbath was purely a day of rest. The religious 
duties of the ancient Hebrews, who were led by Moses 
and Aaron, were continuous and not intermittent from 
Sabbath to Sabbath. 
Sables. In northern Europe the entire costumes of the peo- 
ple were originally composed of sable fur. It had not 
then entered the market of more southerly states. 
16 



186 

Sack, v. To plunder ; pillage. 

Sack, n. Of the quality of this drink there have been and are 
differences of opinion. That it was a sweet wine is clear 
from the words of an act passed in the reign of Henry 
VIII specifying the duties on imports ; and it is also 
called " Spanish sacke " — not as sweet as " Canary 
wines." That it was a dry wine may be inferred from 
the terms of a proclamation by the French Privy Coun- 
cil, (1633.) wherein it is called vin sec. It was fre- 
quently adulterated by vintners with lime if it was not 
dry enough for the tastes of their guests ; but all did 
not admire the adulteration. " There's lime in this 
sack," quoth Falstaff indignantly ; it was preferable 
with sugar, according to that immortal connoisseur. "If 
sack and sugar be a fault, God help the wicked!" The 
same notorious author ity pronounces it an exhilarating 
Spanish wine from Xeres, (which in England is pro- 
nounced Sheres or Sherry,) and he calls it "Sherris." 
A good " Sherris sack " receives the tribute of a com- 
mentary from Falstaff. 

Sackerson. When dancing bears were common objects of 
exhibition in England, this was the name of a rather 
famous Ursa Major, let loose for the diversion of the 
public. 

Sacrament. An oath. 

Sacred, (satirically.) Accursed. 

Sacring bell. The bell announcing the approach of the host 
in Catholic processions. 

Sad-eyed. Serious. 

Sadness. A serious mood. 

Saee. Sound; a clear conscience; v., to make secure. 

Saffron. The popularity of this plant in confectionery and 
in dying for costumes during the 16th and 17th cen- 
turies was extraordinary. The wearing of saffron linen, 
universally followed though it must have been, did not 
escape censure and scorn. Lafeu, in AIVs Well that 
Ends Well, says of Bertram, to his mother : " Your 
son was misled by that snift-taffat a fellow there, whose 
villainous saffron would have made all the unbaked end 
doughy youth of a nation in his color." 



187 

Sag. To give way ; be depressed by care and apprehension. 

Sagittary. The sign of Sagittarius over a house of call ; it 
was likewise the sign of the Armory in Venice. 

Sail of greatness. Full flow of power. 

Salique. An ancient term for the land lying between the 
Sale and the Elbe, afterwards called Meisen. Charle- 
magne established a law that no female should inherit 
title or property in that land : u In terram Salient 
mulierus ne succedent." The same law is still in force 
in some parts of Europe. It prevailed in the Hanove- 
rian electorate at the time of the accession of Queen 
Victoria to the throne of England, and consequently 
Hanover then passed from British hands and became a 
separate kingdom. It has since been extinguished — 
" unified " with Germany. 

Sallet. A helmet ; also, " salads," pickles, and other table 
condiments. 

Salt, a. Sensuous ; lascivious ; tearful. 

Saltiers. Satyrs. 

Salute. Excite. 

Salviges or Selviges. Savages. 

Samingo. An abridgment of San Domingo, who has the 
credit of being the patron saint of topers. The name 
occurs in a play by Nashe. 

Sancta Majestas. Holy Majesty. 

Sanctuary. A place of refuge even for assassins and other 
criminals. 

Sanded. Colored like sand. 

Sands. The hour-glass. " The sands that run on the clock's 
behalf." 

Sans. (Fr.) Without. This word has never been thoroughly 
Anglicized ; it remains purely French, but seems to 
have been much employed in the Elizabethan literature 
as more serviceable in poetic measure than the word 
translated into English. 

Sardis. Formerly the capital of Lydia in Asia Minor. 

Satis quod sufficit. (Lat.) It is enough which suffices. 

Satyrs. The Sylvan deities, half men half goats, typify utter 
sensuality. No greater contrast can be imagined than 
that conjured up by Hamlet to describe the difference 



188 

between his father and his uncle — " Hyperion to a 

Satyr." 
Saucy. Lascivious. 
Savage. Sylvan. 

Savage strangeness. Rude distance of manner. 
Save. Except ; excepting. 
Saw. A wise saying, apostrophe, or proverb. 
Say. Silk ; a sample. 

S'blood. Brief for " His blood!" an old oath. 
Scaffoldings, or Scaffoldages. The gallery of a theatre. 
Scald. Beggarly ; " Scald rhymers " — poor poets. 
Scale, v. To scatter ; disperse ; widen ; climb ; extend. 
Scaled. Overreached. 
Scaling. Weighing. 
Scall. Scab. 

Scamble. To scramble ; shuffle ; shift. 
Scamels. Limpets ; anemones ; zoophytes. 
Scan, v. To examine minutely. 
Scant, ad. Deficient ; v., to abridge : restrain. 
Scantling. Proportion ; a small sample ; a measure. 
Scape. To escape ; ?i.,'a sally. 
Scarfed. Festooned and dressed with scarves. 
Scarlet. The color of the robe of a cardinal or bishop. 
Scarlet and John. Part of a line descriptive of the characters 

in the rustic show of " Robin Hood." 
Scath ; Scathe. Destruction. 
Scatheful. Destructive. 
School, v. To scold. 

Sconce. The human head ; a circular redoubt. 
Scope. Extent of power. 
Score. To mark for punishment ; allot proscription ; debit 

in an account. 
Scotch, or Scot. To bruise ; cut in pieces. 
Scrimers. Fencers. From Vescrime, (Fr.,) the science of 

fencing. 
Scrip. A written list ; a scroll. 
Scriptures. Writings of any kind. 
Scrogles. Scurvy fellows ; people covered with sores. 
Scrubbed. Stunted in growth ; small ; insignificant ; well 

washed. 



189 

Scullion. A kitchen servant who does the dirty work. 

Sculls. Shoals or schools of fish. 

Scurvy, ad. A disease arising from the consumption of salt 
meat ; «., dirty ; mean ; scabby. 

Scutched. Whipped. 

St. Colm's Inch. An island (Inchcolm) in the Firth of Scot- 
land. 

Scylla. A rock in the Straits of Messina as dangerous to 
ships on one side as Charybdis, a whirlpool, was on the 
other. 

Seal, v. To complete ; strengthen. 

Seam. Animal fat. 

Seamel. A bird. 

Seamy. Showing the seams in a dress. 

Sear. To stigmatize. , 

Search, v. Probe ; discover. 

Sear up. Solder. 

Sea Monster. This animal or specimen of ichthyology has 
furnished a field of speculation to the crowd of com- 
mentators. One of the latest (Halliwell) supposes, 
with another, (Upton,) that the Hippopotamus is here 
intended and meant. But the Hippopotamus is not a 
sea monster ; it only inhabits rivers. 

Sealed. Resolved ; confirmed ; stamped. 

Sea of Wx\x. A large sheet covered with wax, in which, when 
dry, the Romans indented words with a stylus ; paper, 
for writing purposes, was scarce. 

Season. To impress ; temper ; fix. 

Seasoned. Long established. 

Seat. Throne. 

Seconds. Military supports. 

Sect. In botany, a scion or offshoot. 

Sectary. Astronomical. 

Security. Over confidence ; dangerous, reliance. 

Sedge. A reed ; a rough leaved plant found on the banks of 
rivers. It belongs to the genus (Janex in botany. 

Seel. To close up ; blind. 

Seel. To close up the eyes. 

Seemery. Appearance ; character. 

Seemeth. Me seemeth : it seems to me. 



190 

Seen. Versed ; well informed of. 

Seethes. Boiling hot. 

Seigneur Dieu. (Fr.) Lord God. 

Seed. Seldom. 

Self. Self-same. 

Self bounty. Generosity; confidence in others. 

Self covered. Hypocritically disguised. 

Semblably. Like unto. 

Semper idem. (Lat.) Always the same. 

Seniory. Seniority. 

Sennet. A technical term for a trumpet blast. 

Senois, Senoys, or Sanese. Inhabitants of Sienna in Italy 
who had formed a sort of republic. 

Sense. Sensual desires. 

Senseless. Devoid of feeling. . 

Sensible. Sensitive; susceptible. 

Septentrion. The north. 

Sequent. A follower. 

Sequestration. Separation • cloistered ; mewed up. In law 
it means the issue of a suit in the seizure of the de- 
fendant's property. 

Sere or Sear. Decay ; the falling leaf ; the autumn of life. 
" To tickle o' the sear " {Hamlet) seems to imply that 
the clown shall be able to raise a laugh among the old 
and feeble. " My May of life has fallen into the sere," 
expresses the premature decay of Macbeth, who has not 
lived a summer. In some editions " Way " has been 
printed iov " May " — an obvious mistake. The latter 
word is used in several of the plays to convey the same 
idea. 

Serjeant-Death. Not an inapt name for pallida mors. 
Sheriff's officers who made arrests and seizures were 
called " Serjeants," and who so strict and punctual in 
his office as the final visitor who arrests life itself ? 

Serpent's curse. To crawl on the earth forever. 

Serpent's tongue. The hissing in a theatre. In this phrase, 
Puck refers to the sibilations of a dissatisfied audience. 

Serpigo. A cutaneous disorder ; ringworm. 

Servant. Signifying sometimes a suitor. 

Serve, ad. Sufficient. Mercuter^s wound serves to kill him. 
v. To fulfil. 



191 

Serves. Attends upon. 

Serviceable. Full of promise to serve. 

Sessa ! Be quiet ! 

Set, n. The technical term for a game at tennis ; v., tc 
wager ; to defy. 

Set a match. To make an appointment for a jocular purpose, 
or a robbery. 

Set off. Excepted ; put aside. 

Set or wit. Also a term in tennis. 

Setter. A thief's watch or lookout. 

Several. Separated. In saying, " they are no common," 
Maria {Love's Labor Lost) means that although her 
lips are not enclosed like lands having owners, they are, 
nevertheless, not open to the public. 

Severals. Details. 

Severell. A field set apart for grass or corn. 

Sewer. A household butler who arranged the dishes on the 
table. 

Sexton. The sacriston ; an ecclesiastic of an inferior order. 
In England he performs the office of grave-digger. 

Shaft. An arrow. 

Shag eared. Having ears like a hound. 

Shale. An old form of shell. 

Shallow. A good name for an empty country justice of the 
peace. In the character of Justice, Shallow, Shake- 
speare satirizes Sir Thomas Lucy who, says tradition, 
punished him for some youthful transgression. 

Shalls. Shells. 

Shame. Modesty. 

Shard. The beetle's back. 

Shard borne. Carried by a winged beetle. 

Shards. Broken crockery ; wings. 

Sharked up. Thrown up by the sea ; picked up ; pressed 
into the naval service by "land sharks" — a name 
given to pimps, kidnappers, and the lowest class of 
attorneys. 

Shaven. Hercules ; Samson. 

Sheen. A blaze of beauty. 

Sheer. Pure ; transparent. 

Shent. Rebuked ; put to the blush. 



192 

Shepherd. A lover. 

Because Christopher Marlowe, a dramatist preceding and 
contemporary with Shakespeare, wrote the line, " Who 
ever loved that loved not at first sight," it has been as- 
sumed that Phebe (As You like It) alludes to Marlowe 
in the apostrophe, " Dead Shepherd," &c. It is true that 
Marlowe had died before the play had been performed, 
but Phebe is supposed to have lived long anterior to 
Chiistopher Marlowe and could have known nothing 
about him or his work. It is not unlikely that Shake- 
speare wrote "' Deed (indeed) Shepherd," or lover, the 
terms being thus synonymous, and that Phebe may have 
derived the sentiment from some supposed conversation 
with Covin. The word " shepherd " could not directly 
apply to Marlowe himself under the circumstances. 

Sheriff's post. A post erected in certain streets to which a 
sheriff's proclamation was attached that it might be 
seen by all people. 

Sherves. Sack composed partly of sherry. See Sack. 

Ship tire. The gay attire of a ship with all sail set and 
" streamers waving on the wind ;" a fair appellation for 
a lady's variegated costume. 

Shive. A slice. 

Shog or jog. To go away. 

Shogan. The name of two men of note in the reign of Henry 
IV, one a scholar, the other an athlete. 

Shoon. Shoes. 

Shot. A good marksman. 

Shotten. Projected. 

Shotten herring. A dry, lean fish that has shed its roe. 

Shough or shock. A dog of woful aspect. 

Shoulder clapper. A bailiff. The old form of arrest for debt 
consisted in a bailiff's putting a hand on the shoulder 
of the defendant while with the other he exhibited the 
warrant. 

Shouldered. Thrust in. 

Shoulders. The young prince who speaks of being carried 
by Gloster (Pichard III) refers to the Duke's hump. 

Shove board. See Edward ; " Edward Shovel-board." 

Shove groat. A game in which a smooth coin was shoved off 
a table by the finger and thumb. 



193 

Shrewd. Clever; acute; accurate. 

Shrewdly. Sadly ; injuriously. 

Shrewish. Bad tempered. 

Shrift, ad. Atonement ; n., a place for shriving ; an altar ; 
a confessional. 

Shrills. Screams. 

Shrive. To confess. 

Shroud, v. To cover ; conceal. 

Shrove-tide. The immediate precursor of Lent. 

Shylock. This revolting character — a Jewish usurer and 
prospective assassin — would appear to be entirely a 
creature of Shakespeare's fancy. Apart from the per- 
version of the attitude of the borrower and lender re- 
ferred to in the story of the caskets, &c, (whoever the 
Merchant of Venice ever borrowed,) it is emphatically 
asserted by a learned and distinguished Babbi that it is 
simply impossible for a Jew to have meditated the crime 
ascribed to Shylock. The opinion and allegations of 
the learned Babbi throw so much light upon the subject 
that they seem worthy of preservation in these pages, 
though some of the positions are open to dispute : 

The Rabbi maintains that the Merchant of Venice is, in point of art, 
the greatest masterpiece of dramatic writings: "Art, in its 
largest scope, is a child of imagination or fantasy. Art, as such, 
is creating, not imitating. It creates images in perfect rhythm, har- 
mony, and consonance. In agreeing with all critics that the 
Merchant of Venice is the greatest masterpiece of art, I meant 
to say so because art has its source in religious sentiments. The 
work mentioned had its origin, indeed, in the religious senti- 
ments, nay, prejudices prevailing at that time, from the influence 
of which even so great a man as William Shakespeare could not 
escape. Shylock is an artistic figure produced by a phantasmal 
imagination. I maintain that Shylock was and is not only not a 
copy of an Israelite ; nay, such sentiments had not even the 
possibilities of real existence in a single Jew. Shylock, if he was 
a real Jew, sharing the fate of his co-religionists, all the degrada- 
tions and persecution of his brethren, because he loved his God, 
His word, and His truth more than his own life — then, I say, he 
would and could not act as represented by Shakespeare. Jessica 
is certainly less a type of Jewish womanhood. No true daughter 
of Zion ever left her old, grieved father and eloped either with 
Jew or Gentile. To the contrary, Jewish maidens always sat with 
their people in gloom and sorrow, as they shared the fate of their 
nation on the streams of Babel with tears on their lovely cheeks. 
17 



194 

Shakespeare'.s Jessica is no prototype of Jewish womanhood. 
Neither is Shylock, as represented, an Israelite, who adhered to 
his Bible, for there is written, " Thou shalt not stand against 
the blood of thy neighbor," (Leviticus, xix, 16,) and neighbor 
means not a co-religionist only, but Jew and Gentile alike ; nor 
is he a believer in the Talmud, for there we are taught, (Sabb., 
88, b,) " Always prefer to be one of the accused than of the ac- 
cusers .; bear rather contempt than strive to insult ; act for the 
sake of love and charity, and endure rather pain and persecution " 
Shakespeare was the most eminent judge of human nature, and 
traced in this drama certain traits of character. He took into 
account the fact that the Israelites of his time were, if not su- 
perior, certainly equal to his Christian brethren in civilization 
and culture. He then considered the oppression and unreason- 
able persecution, the intolerance and inhuman treatment, to 
which they were subjected at the hands of the Christians, and 
came to the conclusion that such injustice ought not to have 
made of every Jew a Shylock — nay, more, a very brute. But, 
despite his just calculations, Shakespeare made a mistake. He 
had never seen our people in this country, for they were banished 
from England in 1290, under Edward I, and therefore could not 
know that the Israelites could never become Shylocks or Jessicas ; 
for blessed be the Protector of Israel, His watch and care never 
suffered His chosen people to become so degraded. On the con- 
trary, the immortal crown of resignation, martyrdom, and suffer- 
ings adorn the heads of the men and women and maidens of 
Israel, like the golden beams of the luminary "when it goeth 

forth in its strength and majesty." 

******** 

Gregorie Leli, a renow T ned biographer of Pope Sixtus V, related a 
remarkable coincidence which occurred before Sixtus when he 
was Inquisitor at Venice in 1567, viz., thirty years before 
Shakespeare wrote his Merchant of Venice. Leli relates that a 
Jew and a Christian appeared before Sixtus to submit to his de- 
cision. A debtor had bonded a hand's breadth of flesh to a 
creditor, and the debtor failing to pay his debt, the creditor in- 
sisted unmercifully on his bond. But listen ; the revengeful 
creditor, Gertendus, is a Christian, and Manu, the unfortunate 
debtor, is an Israelite. This is an historical fact, for Leli relates 
it with the full record of the proceedings, and with the literal 
decision of the great and noble Inquisitor in favor of the Jew. 
Sixtus, who was once a common shepherd, deserved, indeed, by 
his inborn nobleness, the highest honor Christianity could be- 
stow to become the high priest of the Christians, and his memory, 
as a benefactor of our people, is cherished in our history. The 
inhuman attempt of Gertendus was wrong. Wrong, for a Chris- 
tian never had a good reason for persecuting an Israelite for the 
sake of his religion ; and the solemn reproof from the highest 
Christian tribunal in favor of a Jew against a Christian noble- 



195 

man, which was as natural as just, caused, nevertheless, no little 
sensation. 
William Shakespeare therefore now stands before us justly accused 
of misrepresenting wilfully a historical fact, and as having pol- 
luted his hands by a misstatement. But, to be lenient with such 
a great genius, we have only a slight excuse for him if we con- 
sider his Merchant of Venice in the light of history. 

Another and more recent writer has grappled with the 
subject, and thus declares himself : 

Critics and casuists may fall out in attempting to settle among 
themselves what moved the conscience of Shakespeare, and what 
influence for good he desired to exercise on the prejudices of his 
age. in drawing the dark and gloomy Shylock, and it is possible 
that these commentators may not be reconciled until it is ascer- 
tained by induction that the master had no further object than 
to produce a stage play, abounding in characters touched in 
from the life around him, and crowned with a central figure, 
partly evolved from the far-reaching sympathies of his wonder- 
ful mind. To be fair, we ought not to take the Jew of Venice 
and compare him with all we know of the enlightened Jews of 
this age and country, or attempt to force upon them a partner- 
ship in his failings. We must take him as he is— the foreign Jew 
of the last decade of the sixteenth century, the product of ages of 
nameless oppression. The critics who urge that Shakespeare 
meant to stand between the Jews and the prejudices of his au- 
dience should first inform their minds of what opportunity the 
dramatist or his patrons had of comparing the likeness with the 
original ; and to arrive at a just conclusion they must not lose 
sight of the fact that there could have been but very few Jews in 
England in 1594, because of the undisputed fact of the ancient 
race having been driven out of the country in 1290, and were 
never openly readmitted until Oliver Cromwell, yielding to the 
solicitations of the learned Jewish physician, Manasseh ben 
Israel, summoned a council of lawyers and divines, whose, dis- 
cussions, although without immediate result, gradually led to 
the Jews regaining a footing in England. For many centuries 
before Shakespeare's time, kings and people had rivalled one an- 
other in persecuting the Jews, and the Inquisition had not been 
idle in lending the name of religion to cruelties as despicable as 
that planned in the fancy of the poet by Shylock against Antonio. 
Driven from England, from France, from Spain, from city to 
city, and from town to town, the free Eepublic of Venice, with 
the instinct of a great trading community, gave an asylum to the 
Jews, and granted them restricted privileges. 

In Venice the Jews were scholars and painters, and also usurers, 
doing business mostly with the humbler sort of people. A Jewish 
Shylock was well nigh impossible in the England of that day, and 
therefore no necessity could have existed for Shakespeare to act 



196 

as a mediator between the audiences patronizing Henslowe's 
company of players at the theatre at Newington Butts and the 
Jews of London ; but a Shy lock was far from improbable in Venice 
at that period. Taken as a typical character, no liberal-minded 
Jew need deny the authenticity of the Venetian Shylock, and as 
the product of tradition, of hearsay, and of book-learning, mixed 
with slight personal observation, he may have been the ideal Jew 
of Shakespeare audiences. The main features of his character 
are not ignoble. In some respects he must have been a valuable 
citizen. He was an affectionate father and a sympathetic friend, 
but his mind was warped and his worst passions aroused at the 
recollection of the wrongs inflicted and the insults heaped upon 
his long-suffering nationality. The evil spirit of revenge, for 
which Shylock paid the just penalty, was grafted upon his origi- 
nal nature, and it is another tribute to the genius of Shakespeare 
that he saw and marked the fact. Only by keeping these cir- 
cumstances in view can we thoroughly appreciate the human 
side of Shylock' 's devilish disposition. He hoped to pay back 
upon Antonio personal and national wrongs. He fought for. 
the Mosaic creed of an eye for an eye in a Christian city. But 
the evil spirit of revenge did not leave him utterly lost to all 
nobility. This was Shakespeare's meaning ; and now after three 
centuries of theatrical tradition, during which time Shylock has 
been enacted sometimes as a mountebank, and more often as an 
unmitigated fiend, a modern manager (Mr. Irving) restores him 
to his true place as the type of a proud soul lashed into malignity 
by the stigma of contempt. The play of the Merchant of Venice 
is not wholly a study of individual character. It is the picture 
of a gay and romantic age, capable of heroic friendship, of girlish 
love, and abounding in that spirit of adventure and intrigue 
which is the chief characteristic of the dawn of modern polite- 
ness. The personages of the play — one and all — are human be- 
ings, full of faults and foibles, and among the best of them 
beauty and grace are made to appear as virtues. The gaunt 
. shadow r of Shylock passes across the light and glitter of the 
comedy — in it but not of it. 

Sibyl. A prophetess who wrote her predictions on leaves. 

Sibylla or Cumce received a conditional privilege of Apollo 
and then cheated him. The age of this apocryphal fe- 
male exceeded 700 years. 

Sick. Bodily ailment. The use of the word in this sense is 
obsolete in England, where the word " ill " is substi- 
tuted, and " sick " is only used to describe nausea or 
a vomit. In the United States of America " sick " is 
still used in the Shakespearean sense. When a person 
is very ill indeed it is said he or she is " quite sick." 
And in the military reports after a battle the English 
official authorities speak of the sick and wounded. 



197 

Side. A purpose. 

Side-sleeves. Long sleeves. 

Siege. A throne ; royal origin. Also a seat of any kind. 

Si fortuna me tormento, il sperato me contento. (Ital.) "If 
Fortune torments (opposes or deserts) me, Hope will 
sustain me." This was a motto on a sword-blade. 

Sightless. Unseen. 

Sights or steel. The perforated parts of a helmet which en- 
abled the wearer to see his foe without exposing his own 
face ; that portion of the casque which could be moved 
on a swivel to conceal or show the face, and was called 
the "beaver." 

Sign. To soothsay ; foretell. 

Significant. Signs. 

Signiories. The divisions of a kingdom into petty states, 
dukedoms, &c. 

Silly. Simple truth. 

Silver pillars. Ensigns of dignity borne before cardinals in 
processions. 

Simple. Unmixed; unqualified. 

Simular. Hypocritical. 

Sinel. The father of Macbeth. By his death Macbeth suc- 
ceeded as Thane of Elamis. 

Sinew. Strength of limb ; a " rated sinew " — as strength on 
which we reckoned. 

Single. Simple ; decayed ; wish. 

Sink a pace. A corruption of cinque pas, (Fr.) Five steps; 
a figure in an old dance. 

Sir. A courteous prefix of knighthood, and formerly bestowed 
on ministers of the Gospel. 

Sirrah. A playful, inoffensive term used among friends. 

Sister. To imitate or re-echo. 

Sisters Three. The Fates, (Parcoe.) Shakespeare has im- 
ported them into Macbeth as " Witches." 

Sith. Since, or "As." 

Sithence. Since. 

Sits. Direction ; position. 

Sitting. A session of council. 

Sixpenny stickers. Pickpockets. 

Sized. Assized ; measured. 



198 

Sizes. Rations of food. 

Skains-mates. Low companions. The Nurse in Romeo and 
Juliet is indignant at Mercutio 's banter, (see, also, 
Flintgills,) because it may -have meant Skeins-mates 
— a skein being a spool of thread. A skein or skain 
likewise meant a sword, even in the hands of gallants 
of the time. But the Nurse was more likely to under- 
stand that some allusion was intended to female asso- 
ciates, and was ireful accordingly. 

Skill. Reason. 

Skilless. Ignorant. 

Skills not. It matters not. 

Skimble-Sk amble. Irregular talk ; nonsense ; rambling. 

Skink. To drink. 

Skinkek. A tapster ; a waiter at an inn. 

Skins. Covering an ulcer with a fresh skin. 

Skipper. Youth. 

Skipping. Tripling ; given to frolicking. 

Skirr. To scour ; scorch. 

Skogan. The name of a famous fool or jester in the reign of 
Henry IV. 

Slack. To slacken. 

Slander. Rebuke ; waste time. 

Slave. To treat with indignity. 

Sleave. The knotty part of silk. 

Sleave silk. Raw ; unwrought. 

Sleeve hand. The cuff of a garment. 

Sledded. Borne on a sleigh or sledge. 

Sleided. Untwisted. 

Slight, v. To throw ; n., contemptible. 

Slights. Tricks. 

Slip. Counterfeit coin. 

Slipper. Slippery. 

Slips. Leathern thongs used to restrain dogs in couples. 

Sliver, v. To slice ; n., a branch of a tree. 

Slobbery. Miry; muddy. 

Slops. Loose trowsers. 

Slough. An outer skin, (pronounced sluff{) a mire. 

Slower. More serious. 

Slubber. To perform roughly, hastily, imperfectly. 



199 

Slugabed. A sluggard. 

Slutting. The characteristics of a dirty, careless woman. 

Small. Elliptically used for small portions. 

Smilets. Slight smiles. 

Smirched. Soiled. 

Smolkix. No definite meaning is assignable to this word. 
Edgar, {King Lear,) who uses it under an assump- 
tion of lunacy, talks " an infinite deal of nothing." 

Smooth. To flatter. 

Smooth dispose. A soft, engaging manner. 

Smug. Smart, trim. 

Sneak's noise. Sneak was a street minstrel with a band of 
musicians. 

Sneak up. One who temporarily avoids too much drink. 

Sneap. To check ; to snub. 

Sneaping. Nipping. 

Sneck up ! Hang thyself ! 

Sniped A pitiful fellow. 

Snort. To snore. 

Snuff, n. Wick of a candle ; displeasure ; v., to extinguish a 
light. 

Snuffs. Expressions of contempt. 

So. Very good ; be it so. 

Soft you. Stay a moment. 

So hough. An old hunting cry 3 now written So, ho ! 

Soil. Spot ; turpitude ; disgrace. 

Soilure. Loss of virginity. 

Solace. To thrive ; prosper ; comfort. 

Sole. This word, under the varied orthography of Soul, Soal, 
Sole, admits of so much punning, either as an adjective 
or a noun, that the student must be guided by the con- 
text in settling its immediate intention. 

Sol fa. The notes g and f in music. 

Solicit. To excite. 

Soliciting. Information. 

Solicits. Applications. 

Solidares. The solidas was a Roman gold coin originally 
called the Aureus. If Shakespeare meant this coin in 
Timon of Athens he probably forgot that it was not 
a Greek coin. 



. ' 200 

Solon's happiness. Indicating that no man can be pronounced 
happy before his death. 

Sometime. Lately ; at one time ; former. 

Sonties. Saints. " God's sonties " (or saints) was a common 
expression on the lips when papistry was dominant in 
England. 

Sooth. The truth ; sweetness ; v., to countenance a forgery 
or a lie. 

Soothe. To comfort ; to natter. 

Soothsayee. Not always an utterer of the truth or of sweet 
expressions. The soothsayers of old Rome had credit 
for clairvoyance, but those people were little better than 
gipsies in their oracular promises and threats ; they 
spoke ambiguously at the best. 

Soon. By and by. 

Sophy. The Persian King referred to by the Prince of Mo- 
rocco (Merchant of Venice) was probably a very earnest 
Sufi or Soofee — the sect of Mahommedanism which 
triumphed over the Sonnees or earlier sect. Sufism 
(or Sofism) was, until very recently, almost universal 
in Persia. The word is derived from Suffee, purity. 
The doctrines are those of pure Deism. But a new re- 
ligion has now arisen ; it is called Luzdani, and sup- 
ports doctrines altogether opposed to the lesson of the 
Koran. 

Sorel. A three-year-old buck (deer.) 

Sorer. Worse ; more criminal. 

Sorry. Sorrowful ; poor ; dismal. 

Sort, v. To accord ; happen ; choose ; n., a class of persons ; 
ad., manner ; rank ; character ; degree ; associate. 

Sot. A fool ; idiot. 

Soud. Soft. The words Loud, Soud, uttered by Petruchio, 
(Taming of the Shrew,) indicate a state of perspiration 
and fatigue. The word comes from the Latin. The 
ancient Romans used a sudarium to remove the sweat 
from their faces. 

Soul-fearing. Appalled. 

Sound. To publish ; fathom purposes. 

Soundings. Depths ; to take soundings is a figurative form 
of proposing to make enquiries. 



201 

Sour ferryman. Charon, the boatman on the Styx. 

Sour words. Bitter phrases. 

Sowle. To pull the ears. 

Spanielled. Dogged ; followed obsequiously. 

Spartan dog. The fiercest animal of the kind. 

Spavin or Spring-halt. A disease among horses. 

Specialty. Particular rights ; a special pursuit. 

Speculation. Sight. 

Speculative. Seeing. 

Sped. Settled ; exhausted. 

Speed. Event. 

Speer. To enclose. 

Spherical. In the use of this word in the dialogue between 
Antipholus and Dromio of Syracuse, {Comedy of Er- 
rors,} Shakespeare has supposed an amount of geo- 
graphical knowledge which was quite foreign to the 
ancient Greeks. 

Sphery eyne. Round eyes ; heavenly eyes. 

Spial. A spy. 

Spiced Indian air. True of Ceylon where the fragrance of 
coffee and spices fills the air. 

Spicery. The supposed nest of the fabled Phoenix. 

Spill. To destroy. 

Spital. Abridgment of hospital. 

Spit- white. A proof of thirst. 

Spleen. Ill humor — sometimes active ; passionate ; some- 
times exhibited in sullenness ; also a fit of laughter. 

Splenetive. Under the influence of spleen. 

Split. A common phrase to indicate the effect of a tempest in 
splitting oaks, &c. Hamlet speaks of an actor's " split- 
ting the ears," and Bottom proposes to rant and " make 
all split." 

Spon counter. A juvenile game, like pitch and toss. 

Sponge. One who absorbs facts ; also a swindler. 

Spoon. In saying " I have no long spoon," Stephano, ( Tem- 
pest,) supposing Trinculo and Caliban (cod joined) to be 
one extraordinary being, has in his mind the old pro- 
verb which holds that a long spoon is requisite to eat 
with the Devil for fear of getting too near him with the 
ordinary utensils. 



202 

Spoons. The passage in Henry VIII, " You'd spare your 
spoons," refers to the practice at baptisms of the pres- 
entation by the child's sponsers of a set of " apostle 
spoons," i. e., spoons with handles engraved or em- 
bossed with figures of Christ's twelve apostles. 

Spotted. Wicked ; notoriously bad. 

Sprag or Sprack. Quick to learn ; apprehension ; retentive. 

Sprighted. Haunted ; beset by spirits. 

Sprightly. Ghostly. 

Sprights. Spirits. 

Springes. Traps ; wires for birds, hares, &c. 

Spurn. To catch, or snatch. 

Spurns. Contemptuous looks. 

Spurs. The large roots of trees. 

Squandered. Scattered. 

Square, a. Fair; just; v., to quarrel; n., the front of a 
female dress ; the stomachers. 

Squash. An immature peas cod. 

Squiney. To squint. 

Squire, (Fr.) n. Es quiere. A rule or square for measuring ; 
?;., to quarrel. 

Stables. Station. 

Stage, v. To place conspicuously. 

Stage, n. In 1586, when Shakespeare is supposed to have gone 
up to London, he in every likelihood became a member 
of the company then playing at the " Blackfriars," which 
association of gentlemen afterwards (1594) built another 
and probably more commodious theatre on the south 
bank of the Thames, which they called the "Globe." 
The "Blackfriars," a tightly-built house, seems to have 
been used by the company in the winter, and the " Globe," 
partly an open-air theatre, (such as exist in Italy and 
Spain,) they played in during the summer season. The 
"Blackfriars" stood in an opening called P lay house 
Yard, the locality still bearing the same name. 
Besides the " Theatre," the " Curtain," the "Blackfriars," 
and the " Globe," there were several other playhouses 
in London while Shakespeare resided there. Ere the 
erection of regularly established theatres, and even for a 
period long after, plays were acted in certain inn-yards. 



203 

It is interesting to examine the structure of the theatres 
of Shakespeare's time. First there were the tiers of gal- 
leries with small rooms under known as boxes. Second 
was the pit, as it was called in the private playhouses, or 
yard, as it was called at the public ones. The former 
had seats, but in the latter the audience had to stand. 
The "groundlings" (since become the "gods of the gal- 
lery ") paid a penny admittance. A box or room cost 
from sixpence in the smaller theatres to half-a-crown in 
the larger or more fashionable. The "yard " or pit was 
sometimes open to the weather, being roofless, while the 
" boxes " or tiers were inclosed and protected from the 
elements for the accommodation of the better classes. 
The wits, gallants, and critics were furnished with stools 
upon the stage at the sides, they paying from sixpence 
to a shilling for the same, according to the convenience 
of the location. Here these privileged beaux, both old 
and young, were supplied with pipes and ale and spent 
the evening in smoking, drinking, and flirting with the 
ladies between the acts. 

The scenery of the play in those early days of the British 
drama was of the simplest, if any there was at all. A 
scaffolding arose at the back of the stage some six or 
eight feet from the floor, on which scenes supposed to 
occur on towers or in upper rooms were enacted, in front 
of which balcony were colored curtains of pleasing tints, 
looped back or drawn at will, as the passing plot de- 
manded. The wings of the stage were hung with paint- 
ings or tapestry, and the ceiling was concealed by or con- 
structed of blue drapery studded with starry spangles, 
except during the representation of tragedy, when the 
whole stage was rendered sombre with black stuffs. 
The platform was commonly strewn with fresh green 
rushes, though sometimes covered with gay mats. 

The house was opened at two in the afternoon and the play 
began at three, it being one of the city ordinances that 
" no playing be in the dark, so that the auditory may 
return home after sunset." The signal for commencing 
was the third of a series of trumpet calls. A prologue 
was invariably spoken by an actor dressed in a Spanish 



204 

cloak of dark velvet. Between the acts a clown, or buf- 
foon, would tumble and troll comic ditties, or a trifling 
ballet (of French origin) would be danced. The scenery 
was not changed for the different situations, but a large 
board was hung upon the back wall, on which was 
scrawled the name of the place where the incidents 
were understood to occur ; thus everything being left to 
the fancy as in a novel or tale. All of Shakespeare's 
early, dramas were acted amid this highly imaginary 
picturesqueness. At the end of the entertainment a 
prayer was put up for the reigning sovereign by the com- 
pany on their knees, the audience saying, Amen ; after 
which a jig was gone through with by the clown to jolly 
music as the spectators dispersed into the still stream- 
ing sunlight of the street. Such was the stage of Shake- 
speare, in substance. 

Staggers, n. A disease among horses which manifests itself 
in trembling and an irresistible inclination to fall ; v., to 
doubt. 

Stale, v. To make common ; entrap ; to decoy ; n., a butt ; 
an object of ridicule ; a., worn ; faded ; corrupt ; spoiled 
by usage. 

Stalk in. In approaching some timid game it was the cus- 
tom to walk by the side of a horse, unseen by the prey, 
and thus gradually to get within gunshot of the object. 
The practice is still in force in India when the florican 
is the prey, n., a stalking horse. 

Standing. Attitude. 

Standing bed. A four-post bedstead, only used by the upper 
classes. 

Stands me. Imperative on me. 

Stannyel. A hawk ; an entire horse. 

Star. A scar. 

Star chamber. An arbitrary court which pronounced decrees 
without the aid or presence of a jury. It was abolished 
more than two centuries ago. 

Stark. Stiff. 

Starred. Destined. 

Stars. " Happy stars " — a propitious nativity. " Tempering 
all the stars," meant conforming nature and human ac- 



205 

tions to the influences of the heavenly bodies. Astrol- 
ogy was still a supposed science in Shakespeare's time. 

Starved. Hungry; ravenous. 

Starving. Craving. 

State. The throne of majesty. 

Station. Attitude. 

Statists. Statesmen. 

Statua. A statue. 

Statue. A portrait. 

Statute caps. Rustics or citizens seeking employment were 
obliged to wear a head-gear dictated by the law. 

Stay. To prevent ; remain ; delay. 

Stay upon. Wait upon. 

Steed. Assist; "stand in my steed" — *. e., put yourself in 
my place. 

Steep, v. Absorb ; ?i., height or steppe. 

Stelled. Stellated ; starry. 

Sternage. The hinder part ; steerage ; course. 

Stew. A low-class hotel ; a place of ill-fame. 

Sticking place. The stop in a machine. 

Sticklers. Judges ; umpires ; also men who used to assist at 
amateur combats to part the antagonists. 

Stigmatic Deformed. 

Stigmatical. Stigmatized. 

Stile. Position ; rank. 

Still, Stithy. A blacksmith's anvil and workshop. 

Suffrage. Literally, the faculty of speech, but generally used 
to imply a political vote. 

Suggest. To seduce. 

Suggestion. Temptation. 

Suicide and homicide are naturally leading features in trag- 
edy, and, therefore, constitute an element in several of 
Shakespeare's plays. The crimes follow each other as 
the ordinary result of the gratification of the worst pas- 
sions that deform human nature, the concomitants of 
warfare, and the despair engendered by misfortune or 
disappointment. Where the tenets of Christianity enter 
into opposition with heathen philosophy, (Plato's, for 
example,) suicide fails to receive a justification, but, de- 
prived of this wholesome counterpoise, it becomes the 



206 

pusillanimous resort of men and women driven to ex- 
tremities. Thus, in Julius Ccesar, we find Brutus and 
Cassius, after their discomfiture at Philippi, falling upon 
their swords after the manner of Saul, the persecutor of 
David. Timon of Athens, tired of life and hating all 
mankind, entombs himself " upon the very hem of the 
sea.' 1 Romeo and Juliet commit self-slaughter under 
mistaken impressions. Hamlet completes with the poi- 
soned cup what the envenomed rapier had previously in- 
flicted. Goneril makes her own quietus after poisoning 
her sister. Othello, full of remorse, smites himself as he 
did the turbaned Turk. Cleopatra unties the " knot in- 
trinsicate " of life with the help of an asp ; Charmion 
follows the imperial example. Cymbeline's wicked wife 
rids herself of a wretched criminal life by the very means 
she had taken to destroy others of her family ; and Mac- 
beth only hesitates " to play the Roman fool " because 
he sees better employment for his sword in " gashes '" 
in other lives. But all these incidents of self-murder 
fail to horrify or nauseate the readers and spectators of 
Shakespeare's tragedies, because he has adroitly made 
them the sequence of vice which has failed to achieve 
its malignant objects, or represented them as the con- 
sequence of egregious folly or deplorable ignorance. 

Stilty. Gladly ; lowly ; quietly. 

Stint. To stop ; retard. 

Stir. To rise from bed ; raise a commotion ; opposition. 

Stithied. Forgotten. 

St. Martin's Summer. Warm weather in England in the 
month of November; metaphorically — prosperity after 
adversity. 

St. Nicholas. The patron saint of thieves, who, in the 15th 
century, were called St. Nicholas' clerks. 

Stoccato. A stab ; a hit in fencing. 

Stock. A stocking (or stuck) ; a term in fencing. 

Stock-fish. Dried fish of any kind. 

Stomach. Pride ; obstinacy ; inclination. 

Stone. Artificial ; figurative ; the philosopher's stone. The 
word in King Lear meant polished slate, as mirrors of 
glass were unknown. 



207 

Stone bow. A cross-bow ; a small arbalist. 

Stoop. The action of the eagle or hawk in pouncing on its 
prey. 

Stops. The orifices in a flute or flageolet. 

Story. To describe a person. 

Stoup. A flagon, holding a pint. 

Stove. Lot ; number. 

Stover. A thatch ; grass fodder for cattle. 

St. Patrick. The fame of this Scotchman, who is the 
patron saint of Ireland, must have been familiar to the 
Danish Christians, or Hamlet could scarcely have sworn 
by him. 

St. Peter. The alleged keeper of the Celestial Gate. 

St. Philip's Daughters. Virgins " who did prophecy. 1 ' See 
Acts of the Apostles, xxi, v. 9. 

Strachy. No authority for the exact meaning of this word 
is traceable. It may have had reference to some old 
song or romance in which a lady of high degree married 
an inferior officer of her own household. 

Straight. Immediately. 

Straight-pight. Represented erect. 

Strain. A breed ; descent ; race : class ; doubt ; inclination ; 
tone ; ad., demur. 

Strait. Parsimonious ; narrow-minded. 

Strange, a. Shy ; backward ; distant ; n., a foreigner ; a 
stranger. 

Strappado. A barbarous punishment resorted to by the Span- 
ish Inquisition to extort confessions from prisoners. It 
consisted of strapping the arms, hoisting the body up- 
wards by ropes attached to the wrists, and then sud- 
denly letting them drop that the bones might be dislo- 
cated. 

Stratagem. A great or dreadful event. 

Strawy. Straying. 

Stricture. Strictness. 

Strike. To lower a sail or flag in a sea-fight in token of sub- 
mission ; to give way. 

Striker. A borrower. 

Stronds. Strands ; lands. 

Strossers. Trowsers. 



208 

Stuff. A point of honor ; substance ; essence ; luggage ; 
nonsense. 

Stuffed. Sufficient ; replete ; well educated. 

Sty. To treat or harbor a man as if he were no better than a 
hog. 

Stygian. Having reference to the fabled river Styx. 

Subsckibes. Submits ; yields. 

Success. Issue ; result ; not always happy fortune. The 
word (and Succession) also implies excess. 

Successively. Order of succession. 

Sudden. Violent ; hasty. 

Suet. Sweated. 

Sufferance. Endurance ; pardon ; exoneration. 

Sufficiency. Abilities. 

Suited. Dressed. 

Suitor. The allusion to the "woman that bears the bow," in 
Love's Labors Lost, can only be understood by sup- 
posing that the word was pronounced shooter, as it 
still is in Ireland. 

Suits. Here is a word of many significations which Shake- 
speare has not failed to press into his service. Rosalind 
(As You Like It) says she is " out of suits with fortune," 
which may mean that she does not wear Fortune's livery, 
or is not one of her followers (suite.) On another occa- 
sion she bids "Monsieur Traveller" wear "strange 
suits " — foreign costumes — as evidences of his travel. 
Falstaff talks of waiting in the courts " for the obtain- 
ing of suits," actions at law, or favors at court, punning 
upon the word to designate the dress of an executed 
criminal — the perquisite of the hangman. 

Sumless. Countless. 

Summer's day. A promising period. 

Sumpter. A carrier— horse or mule. 

Sun. The " sun of York," in the opening soliloquy of Rich- 
ard III, is a reference to the device of Edward IV. 

Superfluous. Over clothed ; very particular. 

Superflux. Superfluity. 

Superstitious. Over watchful. 

Supplyment. Continuation to the close. 

Supposed. Counterfeit. 



209 

Surcease. The end ; cessation. 

Surety. Secure ; extra confidence. 

Surge. A wave of the sea. 

Surrein. To overdrive a horse. 

Suspect, ad. Suspicion. 

Suspire. To breathe. 

Swabber. An inferior class of sailor who cleans the decks 
with a swab formed of rope threads. 

Swan-like. The peculiar noise made by a dying swan fur- 
nishes the poetical mind with the idea that the bird 
sings as it expires. Tennyson, following Shakespeare, 
writes : 

' ' With an inner voice the river ran, 
Above it floated a dying swan, 
And loudly did lament." 

And on another occasion the same poet sings — 
" The wild swan's death hymn." 

Swart. Dark brown. 

Swashers. Swaggerers ; bullies. 

Swath or Swarth. Cut at one stroke. 

Swathed. Cradled in infancy. 

Swathling. Swaddling. 

Sway. To weigh ; consider. 

Sway on. March rapidly. 

Sweat. A sudorific process in medicine. 

Sweet. Sagacious ; pleasant. 

Sweeting. An apple. 

Swelling. Noble ; daring ; eager ; vain. 

Sweltered. Steamed ; accumulated. 

Swift. Ready. 

Swilled. Violently washed by the sea. 

Swinge bucklers. Swordsmen who rattled their swords upon 
their shields. 

Swinish. Gluttonous. 

Switzers. The phrase " point d 'argent, point \-de Suisse" ap- 
plied satirically to the personal guards of a French 
monarch, occurs first in Racine's only comedy of Les 
Blaideuis. " Suisse " is the appellative of the porter, 
or doorkeeper of the house, and the " Suisse " in " Les 
JPlaideuis is debating the ad visibility of giving admis- 
18 



210 

sion to strangers unless they pay him for the indulgence. 
If they refuse, the porter's bolt is not drawn for them. 
" Point d'argent, (no money,) point de Suisse," (no por- 
ter /) 

Switzers. The Swiss have been the faithful personal guards 
of European (not English) sovereigns from a very early 
period of history. They were the protectors of Louis 
XI, and later of Louis XVI, but it is not very probable 
they were at the court of Denmark. The French, who 
were always very jealous of the preference shown the 
Swiss guards, indicated their mercenary character by an 
epigram, Point d^ argent, point de Suisse, kt No money, 
no Swiss," derived from Racine's Plaideuis, where the 
Suisse, or porter, at a house claims a fee as the ad- 
mission of visitors. 

Swoop. The descent of an eagle on its prey. 

Swoopstakes. Sweeping away all the money staked on a game 
or race. 

Sword. Christian soldiers swear by the hilts of their swords 
because the guard of the hilt resembles a cross. 

Sword of Spain. A weapon manufactured at Toledo once 
famous for its steel. 

Sworn brether. The fratris jurate who bound themselves by 
oath to act together. 

Swounded. Swooned. 

Sycorax. A witch, the supposed mother of Caliban, (Tem- 
pest), "so strong she could control the moou." 

t 

Table. The palm of the hand ; a picture ; a skeleton map. 

Table, tables, tablet. A memorandum book. 

Tabor. A small tambourine beaten with a stick. 

Tabourine. An ancient drum. 

Tackle. Raiment. 

Taffeta. A silken stuff formerly much in use. 

Tag-rag. The rabble ; the rabblement. 

Tailor. As tailors sit cross-legged at their work it was sup- 
posed that when a person fell others would, in ridicule, 
call out tailor ! But the word was once equivalent to 



211 

" thief," and may have been used to raise an alarm, as 
modern folk are wont to call out '* murder !" when any 
simple outrage occurs. 

Tainture. Defilement. 

Take. To infect ; strike with disease. A planet was sup- 
posed to strike and paralyze animals. 

Take in. To capture ; conquer. 

Take out. To copy. 

Take up. To contradict ; to obtain goods on credit. 

Taking. Infection ; to make peace. 

Talent. Talon. 

Tale-tally. To calculate. 

Tall. Stout ; brave. 

Tall. Antithetical to short. It was at one time used to im- 
ply boastfulness. 

Tallow keech. Tub of tallow. 

Talon. Talent. 

Tame. Ineffectual. 

Tame snake. A coward. 

Tang. Sound. 

Tanling. One tanned by the sun. 

Tanny coats. The liveries of officers and retainers in eccle 
siastical service. 

Tanta est ergo te mentis, regina serenissima. (Lat.) " So 
great is the integrity of our purpose towards your 
Serene Majesty." 

Tantoene animes celestibos woe f (Lat.) " Can heavenly souls 
cherish so much anger % " 

Targe. A shield ; a target. 

Tarpeian. A precipice near the Capitol of Rome, whence 
criminals were hurled. 

Tarre. To urge ; encourage. 

Tarriance. Delay. 

Tarry. To stop ; stay ; pause. 

Tartar. Tartarus ; " vasty tartar ;" the inferno. 

Tartar-limbo. Intended by Dromio of Ephesus ( Comedy of 
Errors) to convey the idea of a moral purgatory — an 
intermediate position between temporary detention and 
permanent imprisonment. 

Task. Tax; challenge; tease with scruples. 



212 

Tassel gentle or tercel gentle. A tame hawk. 

Taste. To try ; prove. Kings were so constantly in fear of 
being poisoned that almost every European and Asiatic 
monarch had an official " taster," whose duty it was to 
taste of every dish before it was touched by the King. 
In King John allusion is made to a treacherous monk 
who tasted for the King and died a victim to the 
poisoned food. 

Taurus. Supposed in Shakespeare's time to be a mountain 
in Asia. The Zodiacal sign (Taurus) was alleged by as- 
trologers to preside over man's lower limbs. 

Tawdry. Necklaces worn by country girls. 

Tawney coat. The dress of an apparitor. 

Tawney front. Keferring to Cleopatra's complexion. 

Tax, v. To condemn ; censure ; satirise ; n., a duty or im- 
post. 

Taxation. Satire ; censure. 

Teaches. This word, the third person singular in the pres- 
ent tense of the verb " to teach," unaccountably fol- 
lows a plural noun in more than one play. "Hard 
dealings teaches us " is clearly ungrammatical. Per- 
haps Shakespeare wrote " Hard dealing," and the error 
lies with the printers and editors. 

Tear a cat. To rant ; bluster. 

Tears. Grief ; trouble. See Deer's tears. 

Te Deum. Thou, Lord ; the first words of a hymn of 
thankfulness. 

Teen. Grief. 

Tellus. According to Hesiod, " Mother Earth," the most 
ancient of the planets and an emblem of productive- 
ness. 

Temper, v. To mould ; soften ; manipulate ; n., disposition. 

Temperality. Perhaps Mrs. Quickly means "condition." 

Temperance. Temperature ; moderate speech and action ; 
also, a mild climate. 

Tempest dropping fire. The Campagna of Rome was cer- 
tainly the abode of electric fire, and there must have 
been frequent exhibits of mephitic vapors when miasma 
lurked in the foul city. Excepting the Cloacoe, there 
was no outlet for accumulated filth. Excessive heat, 



213 

and its ordinary results in the spring and summer, made 
Rome intolerable as a place of residence. Violent 
storms were the only depurators of the polluted at- 
mosphere. 

Temple. A religious house in the city of London, and there- 
fore a sanctuary. There was also probably a temple in 
Venice for the accommodation of Moors who visited or 
traded with the famous Republic. It is to that temple 
Portia {Merchant of Venice) sends the Prince of 
Morocco to take his oath. The word " temple " is fig- 
uratively used by Hamlet to represent the human body. 

Tenable. Capable of being held or retained in memory or 
confidence. 

Tenas Astrea reliquit. (Lat.) Leave the snares of Astrea. 

Ten bones. The hands ; an old form of oath. 

Tench. A fresh-water fish with red spots on the skin. 

Ten Commandments. The finger nails. 

Tend. Await ; ready to lead. 

Tender. To regard with affection. 

Tenders. Assurances ; offers. 

Tennis balls. Balls stuffed with hair and knocked about with 
battledores of rope stretched on a frame. The game of 
tennis is likewise partially enclosed by a network of rope. 

Tent, v. To probe; fathom; hold; n., a lint bandage for 
wounds. 

Tents. Hangings and canopies of beds ; canvas residences. 

Tercel. The male hawk. (Falcon, the female.) 

Tercus. The hero of an old story. 

Termagant. A violent character in an old play ; a., fiery ; 
furious woman. 

Terms. The periods at which law courts are held. 

Tertian. A fever which recurs every third day. 

Tested. Attested ; put to the test ; assayed. 

Tester. A coin of the value of an English sixpence. The 
word " Tanner " has now superseded it. 

Testern. To pay with a tester. 

Tetchy. Irritable ; peevish. 

Tether. A rope by which animals are fastened to a stake while 
they graze. 

Tewkesbury mustard. The reputation which the town of 



214 

Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, once enjoyed for the 
manufacture of this condiment has been eclipsed by 
the product of Durham, in the North. 

Thamyris. Queen of the Massagetse who slew Cyrus. 

Thane. A Scottish nobleman. The title has since been sup- 
planted by that of "Earl/' 

Tharborough. (See Third borough.) 

Thassus. Shakespeare probably meant Thasos, a small island 
on the Thracian coast at no great distance from Philippi, 
where the battle was fought in which Brutus and Cassius 
were defeated. Or he may have intended Thapsas, in 
Africa, for, after the death of Caesar, Cassius received 
the conquered part of Africa as his share of the terri- 
tory divided among the assassins. 

Theoric. Theory. 

Thersites. Antagonized to Ajaxby Guiderins, (Cymbeline,) 
the former Thersites being a deformed and scurrilous 
Greek, and Ajax a hero. 

Thetis. One of the sea goddesses, said to be the mother of 
Achilles. 

Thewes. Muscles ; integuments. 

Thick. To "speak thick " is to utter volubly. 

Thicker. Faster ; crowded on. 

Thick pleached. Closely intertwined. 

Thick skin. Courageous ; generous ; antithetical to thin- 
skinned. 

Thill. The shaft of a waggon or wagon. The thill horse is 
the strongest of the team. Some of the American com- 
mentators insist upon " Till," because the word is in use 
in New England. It is bad enough to be obliged to sub- 
stitute words for those which it is conjectured Shake- 
speare wrote w T hen his undecipherable cacography left thy 
meaning doubtful, but it is absurd to dismiss the pal- 
pable for the mere display of hypercriticism. 

Thin. Bare ; poorly dressed. 

Thin helm. A scanty covering of hair. 

Think. Grieve, taken in connection with the sorrow (of Cleo- 
patra) caused by Mark Antony s defeat. 

Third borough A constable ; a peace officer in old times. 

Thisbe. (See Pyramus.) 



215 

Thought. To take thought meant to be anxious ; despondent. 

Thought executing. Destructive of the mental faculties. 

Thought-sick. Melancholy. 

Thorough. Identical in several plays with "through." 

Thracian poet. Orpheus. 

Thrasonical. After the manner of Thrason, a braggadocio in 
an old Greek play. 

Thread. To pass through ; find a passage. 

Thread and Thrum. Implements in weaving. 

Three. " We three loggerheads be " is the motto appended 
to the sign of some oil public house which represents 
two men grinning through a horse collar. The reader 
of the inscription supplies the third loggerhead. 

Three farthings. The Tudors introduced a full blown rose 
upon their coins. It was the united York and Lancas- 
ter badge. As the smaller denominations of silver coin 
were of values, and consequently of sizes, very closely ap- 
proximating to each other, the odd and alternate pieces 
were distinguished by a rose. Upon the sixpence, three- 
pence, three-halfpence, and three- far things the rose was 
engraved, while the shilling, groat, half-groat, penny, and 
halfpenny were without it. This explains Falconbridge's 
remark that his face is so thin he durst not stick a rose, 
(behind the ear was the place where it was worn,) 

"Lest men should say, ' Look where three-farthings goes.' " 
But the coin in question was only introduced in the reign 
of Queen Elizabeth ; consequently, to make Falconbridge 
speak of it was clearly an anachronism. 

Three men beetle. A weighty mallet which required, in use, 
the force of three men. 

Three men song men. Singers of glees, catches, and madri- 
gals in three parts. 

Threepence bow'd. A bent coin of the value of threepence, 
held to be a token of good luck. 

Three pile. Rich velvet. 

Trene. Lament. 

Thrice driven. A process in the manufacture of feather beds. 

Thrid. Thread. 

Thrift. A prospect of success. 

Thrifty. Careful ; unthinking ; careless ; (not the only in- 



216 

stance in which Shakespeare uses the same word to 

convey opposite meanings.) 
Throe. To put in pain. 
Throstle. The thrush. 
Thrum and thread. Machinery in weaving. In putting this 

expression into the mouth of Bottom (or Pyramus) 

Shakespeare preserves his consistency in making the 

artisans weavers. 
Thrum ha.t. Head-gear composed of the end of a weaver's 

warp. 
Thumb. See Bite my thumb. 
Thunder-stone. Acolytes, supposed by the ancients to fall 

with the lightning which precedes a thunder-clap. 
Tib A common prostitute. 
Tickle. Tickled; rickety; brittle. 
Tickle-brain. The vender of strong drinks. 
Tick-tack. An old French game like backgammon. 
Tide. Sometimes expresses " Time." 
Tidy. Plump. 

Tied. Held fast by contract or family connection. 
Tight. Nimble ; active. 
Tike. A hound ; a lout. 
Till. To ; a Scotticism. 

TlLLEVALLEY. Pooh ! pooh ! 

Tilth. Tillage. 

Tilter. An awkward with a lance at a tourney. 

Timber, v. To shape wood delicately. 

Timeless. Untimely. 

Timely parted. Recently deceased. 

Tinct. Essence ; tint. " Tinct and multiplying evidence." 
(The philosopher's stone.) 

Tinctures. " Stains, relics, and cognizance." (Julius Ccesar.) 
Doubtless it was among the Roman superstitions of the 
age that there were curative and protective virtues in 
the blood of distinguished characters. Mark Antony 
has this in his mind when he exposes Caesar's ensan- 
guined mantle to the assembled citizens. 

Tire, v. To fasten ; to be idly engaged ; in falconry, to 
tear with the beak ; n., a head-dress ; " tire valiant." 

Tired. Adorned ; tiring (or attiring) house — the dressing 
apartment. 



217 



Tirra-lirra. The song of the lark. 



Tirrits. Terrors. 

Titan. The sun ; " common kissing " Sol shines on all alike. 

Title leaf. It was the practice to illustrate books with 
characteristic vignettes rudely executed. 

Toad. The idea that the poor reptile had a jewel in his 
head furnished rustic boys with an excuse for destroy- 
ing it that they might get at the imagined jewel 

Tod. A weight of 28 pounds — a quarter of a cwt., English 
measure ; it was used in weighing coral. 

Toffs. Tassels. 

Toged. Wearing the toga proetexta — the privileged mantle 
01 the superior magistrates of Italy. 

Toiled. Taxed ; strained. 

Tokened. Spotted. 

Toll. A tax payable for a license, or the privilege of travelling 
upon a road. 

Tolling. Taking toll. 

Tomb enough, and continent. Insufficiency of space. 

Tomboys. Wild girls who used to dress and act as boys. The 
word comes from tumbe — to dance. 

Tom o' Bedlam A poor lunatic turned out of Bethlehem 
Hospital in London, called familiarly "Bedlam." The 
name is quite out of place in King Lear. 

Tongs and Bones. The implements of a noisy concert, called 
by the French charivari. At the nuptials of a butcher 
in England a serenade is performed with marrow bones 
and cleavers, and among the negroes of America and the 
West Indies the bones are substituted for the Castanet 
as accompaniments of the banjo or guitar. 

Tongue. A language. "■ Double-tongue " venom — the prop- 
erty of an adder. 

Took it. A form of pledge ; an assumption of responsibil- 
ity, as " I took it on me to say, or do." 

Toothpick. All fops in the 16th century used long toothpicks 
after a meal and in idle moments. 

Too too. Excessive. 

Topas. " Sir Topas " is the title assumed by the Clown in 
Twelfth Night in his attempt to impose on Malvolio, 
but the word is used as a pun on topers, in reference to 
Sir Toby Belch's habits. 
19 



218 

Topless. Supreme. 

Topple To tumble. 

Tortive. Twisted. 

Toss. To handle a pike or musket. To be tossed was to be 

cast into a pit. 
Tottering. Tattering ; tattered — referring to the colors of 

an army. 
Touch, n. A stone for testing gold, whence " touchstone ;" 

ad., touching ; touched ; feelingly affected ; trying ; reach- 
ing; attaining; to prick ; n., features. 
Touse. To pull ; drag. 
Toward. In preparation, going forward ; in readinesSj well 

disposed. 
Tower, v. Soar. 
Toys. Whims ; trifles ; rumors ; idle suggestions of the 

fancy. 
Toze. To unravel. 

Trace. Accompany ; follow ; keep up with. 
Trade. Established practice ; business ; profession. 
Traded. Practised. 
Tradition. Traditional usages. 
Traditional. Governed by old customs. 
Trail. Scent left by game, or the human foot. 
Trains. Forces ; followers. 

Traitress. A term of endearment ; from traditore. 
Trammel. To gather up ; collect. 
Tranect. A ferry. 

Tranquillity. Gentlemen who live at home at ease. 
Translate. To transform; interpret. 
Trash, v. To restrain the speed of a hound ; check growth 

in its exuberance ; ad., worthless stuff. 
Travail. Labor; toil. 
Traverse. An old word of command in musketry exercise ; 

likewise an order to march. 
Traversed arms. Folded arms. 
Tray-trip. A game resembling draughts. 
Treachers. Traitors. 
Treaties. Entreaties. 
Trenched. Carved. 
Trencher friends. People who are " friends " as long as you 



219 

entertain them. A broad plate or dish used at the dinner 
table was a trencher, the word being derived from the 
French, tranche, a slice ; trencher, to cut or carve. 

Treys. Threes ; a corruption of Tres (Lat.) in the throw of 
dice. 

Tribunal plebs. A clown's mistake for the tribune of the 
people. 

Trick, n. Peculiarity of feature; a facial expression; silly 
practice. 

Trick, v. To dress out. 

Tricking. Dressing; ornament. 

Trick or fame. A trifle of reputation. 

Tricksey. Adroit. 

Trigon. A fiery junction of three signs of the Zodiac, and 
therefore applicable to the red spots on JBardolpK s nose, 
and to the group of Falstaff, Bardolph, and Doll 
Tearsheet. 

Trim, v. To practise ; decorate ; a., (ironically,) nice ; credit- 
able. 

Trip. To move forward ; dance ; stumble. 

Triple. One of three ; the triumvirs who seized on the gov- 
ernment of Rome after Csesar's death. 

Tristful. Sorrowful ; melancholy. 

Triton. A huge sea-god attendant upon Neptune. Often 
contrasted with the minnow, the smallest of fish, il- 
lustrating the position of a man who is only relatively 
considerable or great. 

Triumphs. Shows ; processions. 

Troilus. One of the sons of Priam, Khig of Troy. 

Trojan. A cant name for a thief. 

Troll. To sing trippingly. 

Trol-my- dames. An old game resembling bagatelle ; minor 
billiards. 

Tropically. In the sense of tropics ; metaphorically. 

Trossers. Trowsers. 

Trot. A term of contempt. 

Troth. Truth ; pledge of love, loyalty, and obedience. 

Trout-tickling. Maria, in Twelfth Night, seeing Malvolio 
approaching, says : " Here comes the trout that must 
be caught with tickling." Shakespeare knew that fact, 



220 

so familiar to river poachers and many a school-boy, 
that a trout likes to be tickled, or behaves as if he did, 
and that by gently tickling his sides and belly you can 
so mesmerize him, as it were, that he will allow you to 
get your hands in position to grasp him firmly near 
the surface of the stream. 

Trow. Belief. 

Trowel. Metaphorically, one who spreads gross flattery. 

Truckle-bed. A bedstead on castors raised but a foot from 
the ground. Servants usually slept on such beds at 
the feet of their masters. 

True. Brave ; honest. 

Truepenny and old mole are rather familiar phrases for 
Hamlet to use in speaking of the ghost of the father 
he has just been treating so reverentially. Perhaps he 
may be supposed to be seeking relief from the emotions 
which so recently oppressed him. It is natural to in- 
dulge in a forced jocularity after a severe strain upon 
the sterner passions. 

Truite. (Fr.) Trout. La truite lavee au bo urbier — Their out 
washed in the mud. 

Trundle-tail. The name of a dog. 

Trusted. Thrust. 

Truster. Depository ; receptive of confidence. 

Try. To shift the sails of a ship. 

Try conclusions. Try experiments ; argue ; contend. 

Tub- fast. A process for exciting violent perspirations. 

Tuck. Sundry annotators give, in explanation, " a rapier, a 
thin sword," but this cannot be reconciled with a " vile 
standing tuck," which, judging by the context, meant a 
slight pole on which clothes were hung to be beaten. 

Tucked. Adorned. 

Tucket. A toccata (Ital., trumpet) or a trumpet blast. 

Tully's orator. A treatise by Cicero called " The Orator." 

Tumbler's hoop. A sheet of thin paper hooped for acrobats 
to leap through in a circus. 

Tundish. A funnel. 

Turbans. Belarius \Gymbeline) speaks of "impious tur- 
bans," implying that giants and Turks were identical. 

Turk. To turn Turk ; to revolt ; become savage. 



221 

Turk Gregory. Hildebrand, the Pope Gregory VII, made 
war on all the princes in Christendom to assure the 
Papal supremacy. To call him a " Turk " was simply to 
express the fierce energy of his warfare. 

Turley good. A gypsy, or probably a lunatic. 

Turn. To moderate. 

Turquoise. A sky blue stone (the lapis lazuli) found in 
Persia. In superstitious times particular virtues were 
ascribed to stones which underwent changes in hue ac- 
cording to the fluctuations in the atmosphere. The 
opal showed this character — or supposed character — 
with the turquoise, which imparted to both stones a 
value beyond their decorative quality. But Shylock 
cherished his turquoise less for its reputed attributes 
than from the fact of its having been a present from his 
Leah. It is almost the only gentle touch exhibited in 
his nature. 

Turre. To whisper. 

T wangling Jack. An opprobrious term for a musician. 

Twice the other twain. Pompey {Antony and Cleopatra) 
means that Mark Antony is twice as good a soldier 
as Augustus and Lepidus put together. 

Twicken bottle. A wicker bottle. 

Twigging. Wickered ; formed of twigs. 

Twinkling or an eye. Rapidity of action. 

Twire. To peep ; twinkle. 

Twofold balls and trebly sceptres. A ghostly foreshadow- 
ing of the Union of England and Scotland under James 
I. Had Shakespeare, who knew so much of the past and 
all of the present, the gift of penetrating the probable 
future? 

Tyburn. The ancient locality of the gallows in London. 

Type. A symbol. 

Typhon. A very noisy giant. 

Tyrant, ad. Oppressive, whether applied to custom, inca- 
pacity of motive, or severity of rule. 

-Tything. A district ; likewise the act of taxing the tenth of 
one's property. 



222 

XJ 

Ubique. (Lat.) Here and everywhere. 

Umbered. Brown from exposure to the sun and shadowed 

{ombre, Fr.) from melancholy. 
Unaccustomed. Unusual ; unbecoming ; indecent. 
Un annealed. Not oiled ; not in reception of extreme unction — 

a Roman Catholic ceremonial applied to persons in a 

moribund condition. 
Unavoided. Unavoidable. 
Unbarbed. Beardless; shaven. 
Unbated. Not blunted; a foil not tipped with a button for 

safety in fencing. 
Unbitted. Unbridled. 
Unbolt, v. To explain. 
Unbolted. Coarse ; unsifted. 
Unbonneted. With the hat or cap removed. 
Unbooked. Unlearned ; illiterate. 
Unbreathed. Unpractised ; unrehearsed. 
Uncape. To open the bag in which a fox had been caped (cap- 
tured) or kept, to let the animal run off before being 

chased secundum vitem. 
Unchanged. Unattached. 
Uncharged. Undefended. 
Uncleanly. Impure. 

Unclew. To unwind ; unravel ; undo ; ruin. 
Unclog. Open ; remorse. 
Uncoined. Unalloyed ; open ; unfeigned. 
Unconstant tay. Caprice ; change. 
Uncouple. Loosening the leashes by which hounds are linked 

in couples. 
Uncrossed. Uncancelled ; a debt unpaid ; not crossed out of 

the creditor's book. 
Unction. Ointment. " Flattering unction " is a happy form 

of indicating a pleasant method of easing the conscience. 
Uncurrent. Irregular. 
Undercraft. To wear beneath the crest. 
Undercrest. To add to honors by further exercise. 
Undergoing stomach. Stamina ; the faculty of bearing up. 
Underskinkner. A subordinate tapster. 



223 

Understand. To stand under. 

Undertaker. A participator in the quarrel of another. 

Underwrite. To subscribe ; vouch for ; to obey ; take note. 

Underwrought. Undermined. 

Uneath. Scarcely. 

Unexpressive. Inexpressible. 

Unfair. To deprive of beauty. 

Unfathered. Fatherless. 

Un garcon. A boy. The unit in the French language is 
represented by the indefinite article un — a or one. 

Ungenitured. Not begotten after the ordinary usage of na- 
ture. 

Unhappily. Mischievously. 

Unhappiness. " Evil propensities," as applied by Lady Anne 
to the Duke of Gloster. {Richard III.) 

Unhappy. Wicked ; mischievous. 

Unhaired. Without a beard or moustache ; youthful. 

Unhatched. Undisclosed. 

Unhearts. Distresses. 

Unhoused. Free from domestic cares. 

Unhouselled. Bereft of the last Roman Catholic sacrament. 

Unicorns. Modern travellers, seeing at a distance, in profile, 
a deer whose horns projecting from the forehead were 
parallel, and therefore appeared to be but one horn, 
have conjectured that the Romans brought from Africa 
the impression that they had seen horned horses. The 
unicorn is, however, deemed a fabulous animal, or one 
of an extinct species, and is merely figured as a sup- 
porter on a coat-of-arms. 

Unimproved. As applied to " mettle," unregulated. 

Union ; A precious stone ; a kind of pearl susceptible of 
solution. 

Unjust. Dishonest. 

Unkind. Unnatural. 

Unlived. Deprived of life. 

Unmanned. A term in falconry applicable to a hawk. 

Unmastered. Licentious. 

Unowed. Unowned. 

Unpaved. Castrated. (Oymbeline.) The voice is affected by 
the operation, wherefore the boys in the choirs of Ital- 



224 

ian catholic churches, who are destined to lead lives of 
celibacy as priests, are called castrate, from castra, a 
stone. 

Unplausive. Inexpressive. 

Unpregnant. Quickened; also, stupid. 

Unproper. Common. 

Unqualified. Unmanned, (q. v.) 

Unquestionable. Disinclined to inquisitiveness. 

Unready. Unprepared ; undrest. 

Unrespecting. Unobservant ; regardless. 

Unrespective. Regardless ; inconsiderate. 

Unrest. Disquiet. 

Unrough. Beardless. 

Unseminared. Bereft of the faculty of procreation ; castrated. 

Unshunned. Inevitable. 

Unsmirched. Undefiled. 

Unsquared. Unadapted. 

Unstained. Spotless; innocent. 

Unstaunched. Incontinent. 

Untempering. Hard ; not even susceptible of being softened. 

Untent. To vacate a tent. 

Untented. Not probed ; virulent ; unsearchable. 

Unthread. Retrace ; to get through or thread an intricate 
forest or pathway. 

Unthrift. Prodigal. 

Untraded. Not in common use. 

Untrimmed. Undrest ; destitute of ornament. 

Unvalued. Invaluable. 

Unyoke, v. ' To separate one's self from another yoke-fellow or 
workingman ; to cast off a control of any kind. 

Upspring. Jumping up, either in dancing or jocund drinking, 
was a common custom among the Scandinavians. 

Urchins. Hedgehogs. 

Ursa major. The Great Bear in Astronomy, called by country 
people Charles's Wain or Wagon, because of its resem- 
blance to a team of horses drawing a vehicle. 

Usance. Extravagant interest on money lent. 

Use, v. To behave ; n., intent ; usage. 

Usurpery hair. False hair ; a wig. 

Utes. " Old Utes " — old custom — alleged to be derived 



225 

from huit, (Fr., eight,) because of certain merrymakings 

on the eighth day of a certain festival. 
Utter. To expel ; to sell. 
Utterance. From the French outrance, extremity. 

v 

Vade. To fade. 

Vail. To lower ; abate ; " vail your stomach," control your 
pride. {Taming of the Shrew.) "Vailing her high top 
lower than her ribs," {Merchant of Venice,) presents a 
striking picture of a ship on her beam ends. " Vailing 
of the sun " is another term for sunset. 

Vain, Vainness. Vanity ; light of tongue. 

Valentine. The saint of this name being unknown to the 
Greeks, Shakespeare has perpetrated an anachronism in 
intruding mention of the saint's day. 

Validity. Force ; worth ; effectiveness ; value. 

Vallanced. Cut in zig-zag ; a common sort of trimming first 
introduced at Valencia, in Spain. Applied, also, to the 
lace manipulated at Valenciennes, and to the wrinkles 
on the human face. 

Vanity. Illusion. 

Vantage. Opportunity; advantage. 

Vantbrace. A protection for the arm. {Avant bras, Fr.) 

Varlet or valet. A personal servant ; a retainer. Littre, in 
his " Histoire de la Langue Franchise," says : " Words, 
in passing from one country to another, or from one age 
to another, become ennobled or degraded in a remarka- 
ble manner." He instances, in illustration, the word 
varlet, which he says is a corruption of vaslet, " little 
vassal ;" and the word vassal, he says, " signifiat un 
vaillant guerrier, (warrior,) et varlet un jeune homme 
(a young man) qui pouvait (might) aspire aux (to the) 
honneurs de la chevalerie." 
Vossius says that vassal is from vas, " a pledge " — the 
word being applied to " tenants in vadio" that is, who 
were under a pledge to follow their lords to battle ; 
Latin, vadere* " to go." Our older English poets, such 
as Chaucer, (" Knight's Tale," verse 3054,) Gower, and 
Gawin Douglas, always used the word vassal in connec- 



220 

tions where personal bravery and prowess seem to be 
the leading conceptions that inform the word. 

Vast. Waste ; extensive ; dreary ; the dead of night (meta- 
phorically.) 

Vastidity. The whole earth. 

Vastly. Vast ; like a waste. 

Vault or volt (Fr.) or volte. (Ital.) Leap. 

Vaunt. The avant (Fr.) or forepart. 

Vaunt couriers. From the French avant couriers — forerun- 
ners. 

V award. The front ; towards the front ; vanguard. 

Velure. Velvet. 

Velvet guards. Trimmings ; applied to the citizens who wore 
them. 

Venetian. A native of Venice. It is worthy of remark that 
Shakespeare, in compliment, perhaps, to the followers 
of the Ambassador from the Republic to Queen Eliza- 
beth, draws a nice distinction in tracing the character 
of the Italians. Portia {Merchant of Venice) ridicules 
the Neapolitans ; Iago {Othello) speaks contemptuously 
of the Florentines ; but Bassarins, the Venetian, is " a 
gentleman." 

Venew. A bout in fencing. 

Veney. A thrust or blow in a cudgel (or waster) contest ; a 
corruption of ve?iez, (Fr.) "come on." 

Vengeance proud. Proud " with a vengeance." 

Vent. Rumor ; v., to invent or spend. 

Vent, v. To blow off. 

Ventages. The small holes in flutes which are closed or 
opened by the ringers when the instrument is played 
upon to exclude or introduce air. 

Venus. The evening star ; the type of all that is good and 
beautiful in womankind. 

Verbal. Verbose ; tedious ; wordy ; literal. 

Verbatim. (Lat.) Word for word. 

Verify. To prove the truth. 

Veronese. A ship from Verona. This is one of Shake- 
speare's topographical mistakes. Verona is not a sea- 
port. 

Versing. Writing verses. 



227 

Very. Immediate ; really ; truly. 

Via. Go! fly! Take to the road! An old Italian word of 
command to servants, messengers, and attendants. Via, 
(Lat.,) n., a street or road. Also, an expression of joy. 

Via les eaux et le terre. (Fr.) " Away, both the waters and 
the earth !" 

Vials. "Sacred vials," lachrymatory vessels, which, filled 
with tears for a deceased individual, were deposited by 
the Eomans in the sarcophagus with the ashes of the 
defunct. 

Vice. The Harlequin or Motley Fool of the Old Moralities ; 
the original of the modern pantomime dram. pers. His 
parti-colored dress suggests the taunt, "a thing of 
shreds and patches." {Hamlet.) He carried a thin lath, 
sword, or wand. The word " vice " is used in the West 
of England for fist. 

Video et gaudeo. (Lat.) I see and rejoice. 

Vides ne ques venit? (Lat.) Do you see who comes"? 

Vie. To boast ; to stake cards in the old game of Primero. 

Viewless. Invisible. 

Vild. Vile. 

Villain. A servant ; a worthless fellow. 

Vinewed. Rotten; mouldy. 

Violentett. Rageth. 

Viol de gamboys. The violoncello; called " de gambi," or 
" of the legs," (Ital.,) because it is supported by them 
on being played upon. 

Virginal. A musical instrument ; a kind of spirit. 

Virginalling. Toying with the fingers as on a virginal. 

Virgin knight. A virgin. 

Vir sapit qui pauca loquitur, (Lat.) He is wise who speaks 
but little. 

Virtue. Valor ; worth ; a good quality. 

Virtuous. Healthy; safe; serviceable. "Virtuous prop- 
erty," medicinal efficacy. 

Viva voce. Openly spoken. 

Vives. A distemper in horses. 

Vixin. A female fox. 

Vizaments. Advisements ; deliberations. 

Vizard. A mask. 



228 

Volquessin. A part of Normandy now called Le Vexion. 

Voluble. Flighty ; fickle. 

Voluntary. Volunteer. 

Votarist. A monk or nun who has taken a vow. 

Vox. (Lat.) The voice, or a tone of the voice. 

Vulcan's smithy. The forge where Jove's thunderbolts were 

manufactured. 
Vulgar, a. Common ; ??,., the lower classes. 
Vulgarly. Commonly. 
Vulture. The " vulture of sedition " is likened to the bird 

which fed upon chained Prometheus who stole fire from 

heaven. 

w 

Waftage. Passage. 

Wafts. Waves ; v., beckons. 

Wafture. Waving away with the hand. 

Wag. To shake to and fro. 

Wage. To combat ; pay wages. 

Waist. A part of a ship between the quarter-deck and the 
forecastle ; the middle of the night. 

Wake. Arouse ; excite. 

Walk. An avenue or part of a forest. 

Wanned. Waned ; become pale. 

Wannem. Veugeance. 

Wanton. Descriptive in every sense of lightness of action or 
character ; synonymous with gaiety ; sensuousness, an- 
imal spirits, &c. Shakespeare sometimes uses the word 
as a noun, sometimes as an adjective or adverb. 

Wappen'd. Used up. 

Ward. Guard ; defence ; attitude of defiance ; guardianship ; 
custody ; imprisonment. 

Warden. A large kind of pear adapted to baking. 

Warder. A baton, staff, or truncheon. 

Warn. Summon. 

Warp. The warp of waters is the natural result of frost ; 
congelation expands them. 

Warrior. Used complimentally by Othello to Desdemona 
because she accompanied him to the wars. 



229 

Wash. The estuary in Lincolnshire where King John lost 

his luggage. 
Wassail. From Was-hael, a Saxon word signifying " Good 

health ! " at drinking bouts. 
Wassel candle. The light used at festivals. 
Wassels. Drinking bouts. 
Waste. Spend. 
Wat. A hare. 
■Watch, v. (In falconry,) to tame ; n., a light kept burning 

the entire night. 
Watch case. A sentry box provided with an alarm bell. 
Water rug. A species of dog distemper. 
Waters. SeeToPAS. 
Water work. Water colors. 

Wax, v. To grow ; increase ; n., perfection of form. 
Waxen. Increased. 
Waxen-coat. A garment or breastplate easily penetrated by 

a sword thrust. 
Waxen epitaphs. Such as are perishable or easily defaced. 
Waxen thighs. Here, for once, Shakespeare's natural history 

is at fault. The " humble bees " do not carry wax upon 

their thighs, but pollen, the dust of the flowers, with 

which they make their bread. Wax is made from honey. 
Way of life. See May. 
Wealsmen. Statesmen; persons charged with the common 

weal. 

Wealth. Weal; advantage. 

Wear. The fashion. 

Weasels. The familiarity of Shakespeare with the habits of 
animals was one of the results of his woodland wander- 
ings. Hence he became aware that weasels destroy the 
eggs of birds of all kinds— song birds, game and 
domestic fowls ; and he partially uses his knowledge in 
Jaques' {As You Like It) remark : 
" I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs." 

Weather. In a nautical sense the weather (or windward) 
side is an advantage. 

Weather bitten. Rusted; corroded by exposure. 

Weather ferns. Shelter from bad weather. 

Web and pin. The cataract in the eye. 



230 

Wee. Very little. 

Weeds. Wide clothes folded over the person and worn by 
the Athenians. 

Ween. To fancy ; to think ; to hope. 

Weeping philosopher. Heraclitus, (a Greek,) who, in contrast 
to Democritus, (a laughter loving person,) obtained the 
appellation of the mourner, because he continually la- 
mented the follies of man and was otherwise of a gloomy 
temperament. 

Weet or Wheet. Witness ; v., to-wit ; know. 

Weigh. To value or esteem. 

Weighout. Outweigh. 

Weird. Prophetic ; ghastly. 

Welsh-hook. See Bill. The same kind of weapon, but 
crossed with a sharp piece of steel on the upper part of 
the staff. 

Welked. The whelk is a shell fish; the edges of the shell 
are irregular. 

Welkin. The upper region of the air ; the sky. 

Welkin eye. Blue eye. 

Well a near. Alack the day. 

Well-liking. Plump. 

Wend. To go. 

Wesand. The windpipe. 

Westward, ho ! The title of an old play. 

Wether. The ram. 

Whale's bone. Probably the tusk of the walrus, which is 
white. 

What ' what ho ! A mode of calling a servant who is invisi- 
ble. Likewise a friendly salutation. 

Wheeling. Wheeling; coaxing. 

Whelked. Twisted; convolved. 

When? Used in the same interrogative sense as What ? How 
now? 

Whenas. Whereas. 

Whe'r. Whether. 

Where Whereas. 

Where-against. Against, or upon which. 

Whiffler. A processional officer who clears the way. 

While. The while ; the present moment. 



231 

While eke. A short time ago. 

Whiles. While ; during the time ; until. 

Whincast. Mouldy. 

Whip. The crack ; the best ; the scourge. 

Whipstock. The carter's whip. 

Whirring. Hurrying. 

Whist. Silent ; still. 

Whistle. A sign for calling a dog. 

White. The mark (or bull's-eye) in the target. 

White death. The green sickness peculiar to youth. 

Whitefaced shore. Albion, (England,) from her white cliffs. 

Whiting time. Bleaching time. 

Whitsters. Linen bleachers ; laundresses. 

Whittle. A knife. 

Whole. Sound ; restored to health. 

Whooping. Measure and reckoning. 

Whoop jug. Supposed to be the refrain of an old love song. 
" Jug " was a term of endearment and applied by poets 
to the nightingale. 

Who's there? The ordinary summons addressed by a senti- 
nel to any one approaching his post. Shakespeare has 
purposely made Bernardo {Hamlet) challenge Francisco 
that the latter might put him right: "Nay, answer me ; 
stand and unfold yourself." 

Wide. Remote from ; away from the subject in hand or sim- 
ple matter of conversation. 

Widowhood. A widow's dowry. 

Wife. In some editions of Shakespeare's Plays the mistake 
is made of causing Iago ( Othello) to say of Gassio that he 
is " damned in a fair wife," instead of " life" (idleness,) 
which the context shows is the proper word, irrespec- 
tive of the fact that Cassio is unmarried. 

Wight. A youthful person of either sex. 

Wild. Synonymous with Weald, a woody district. 

Wilderness. Wildness. 

Willow-willow. The melancholy refrain of a song in lam- 
entation, still sometimes heard in Ireland ; or wirra- 
wirra ! 

Wimple. A hood or veil. 

Winchester goose. One of the many opprobrious terms ap - 
plied to foolish women. 



232 

Windlasses. Circumlocutory measures ; " assays of bias ;" 
crooked or curved means. 

Window bars. A gauze lattice-work covering for the female 
bosom. 

Windows. (Metaphorically) the eye-lids ; the " two blue win- 
dows " of Venus are spoken of in Venus and Adonis. 

Windring. Winding. 

Winking. Half closed ; applied to flowers and gates. 

Winnowed. Sifted ; examined. 

Winter ground. To protect a plant from frost. 

Winter's Tale. This strangely interesting play, in which both 
comedy and tragedy are presented, has all the errors and 
all the beauties conspicuous in Shakespeare. The story 
is said to have been borrowed from Greene's tale of 
Pandosto, but it is replete with incongruities. The 
dramatis personam all bear Greek or Roman names ; Bo- 
hemia is placed on the shores of the Mediterranean ; 
Rermione calls herself the daughter of the Emperor 
of Russia ; Leontes consults the oracle of Delphos ; the 
Clown makes his calculations in shillings, and talks of 
purchasing articles that had not found their way into 
Europe at the supposed time of the play. The same 
individual refers to Puritans, psalms and hornpipes — 
anachronical, clearly. Autolycus speaks of " the prodi- 
gal son " before the Sublime Author of the parable had 
appeared on the earth, and in several other instances 
anachronisms are obvious ; still the play is well con- 
structed. 

Wis. To know. 

Wise woman. A witch ; a fortune-teller ; an empirical doc- 
tor, supposed to be learned in simples and symptoms. 

Wisp or straw. A mark of disgrace which scolding wives 
were compelled to wear. 

Wistly. Wistfully. 

Wistly. Wedfully. 

Wit. Knowledge ; experience ; polished drollery ; know- 
ingly. A happily conceived and quickly uttered idea. 

Witch, v. To astonish ; n., a woman supposed to be gifted 
with the faculty of vaticination and qualities of a ma- 
lignant character. It was. a popular notion in former 



233 

times that blood drawn from a witch would annihilate 
her prophetic and mischievous powejr. A more certain 
method of dealing with the poor creatures was immer- 
sion in a pond of water. 
Witches. It is alleged upon what has been regarded as re- 
liable evidence that Shakespeare borrowed his incanta- 
tion song in Macbeth from Middleton's ' ' charm song " 
of the " Witch." Middleton, born in 1570, was con- 
temporaneous with Shakespeare, and it is therefore a 
question whether he borrowed from Shakespeare or 
Shakespeare borrowed from Middleton. Plagiarism was 
so common among the Elizabethan dramatists that it 
lost some of the turpitude attached nowadays to liter- 
ary thefts. Here is the song as I find it given in some 
sketches of the poets of the 16th and 17th centuries 
and ascribed to Middleton : 

THE WITCHES GOING ABOUT THE CALDRON. 
Black spirits and white, red spirits and gray, 
Mingle, mingle, mingle, you that mingle may, 
Titty, Tiffin, keep it stiff in ; 
Firedrake, Puckey, make it lucky ; 
Liard. Robin, you must bob in. 
Round, around, around, about, about, 
All ill come running in, all good keep out ! 

1st Witch. — Here's the blood of a bat. 

Hecate.- -Tut in that ; oh, put in that ! 

2d Witch. — Here's libbard's bane. 

Hecate. — Put in again. 

1st Witch. — The juice of toad, the oil of adder. 

2d Witch. — Those will make the younker madder. 

All. — Round, around, around, about, about ; 

All ill come running in, all good keep out ! 

Witch's blood. If drawn by any individual it was supposed 

to render him invulnerable. 
Withdraw. Go away. " Withdraw with you " {Hamlet) is 

either a misprint for " Withdraw, will you," or we must 

accept the former phrase as equivalent to the modern, 

" Be off with you !" 
Withering ant. See Dowager. 
Withy. Judicious ; sagacious : cunning. 
Wits. Senses ; " five wits," five senses. 

Wittenberg. The university where, it is presumed, Horatio 
20 



234 

was educated, {Hamlet) was founded in 1502, probably 
300 to 400 years after the hypothetical period of Ham- 
lets existence. One of the many anachronisms of Shake- 
speare. Famous for the daring exploit of Martin 
Luther in publicly burning the Pope's Bull. 

Wittol. A contented cuckold — one whose philosophy con- 
trasted with Othello's, who believed that ignorance was 
"bliss." 

Wives. Women generally. 

Wo. To be sorry. 

Wode. Frantic with rage. A word still in use in the North 
of England. 

Woe the while. Woful times. 

Wolsey. The Wolsey of Shakespeare is not so much the 
Wolsey of fact as the Wolsey of truth. There are two 
Wolsey s, the outer and the inner. The Cardinal profuse 
and splendid, yet meek and humble-mouthed, " signing 
his place and calling in full seeming with meekness and 
humility," and the man, Thomas Wolsey, whose heart 
is " crammed with arrogancy, spleen, and pride." The 
feminine perception of Katherine discerns what the 
judgment of Henry is slow to admit, and she charges Wol- 
sey home. As the play of action developes, we see these 
two Wolseys, first distinct and consciously separate, 
gradually coalescing, until at last the deceiver of others 
is by himself deceived, and the peculiar interest attach- 
ing to the great man's farewell to greatness is derived 
from the exhibition it affords of his own self-deception. 
The habit of forensic expression of that " full seeming," 
which the Queen had signalized, now clings like the shirt 
of Nessus to him, and he is the victim of that very 
speciousness and fair semblance wherewith full often 
he had cajoled and misled others. Time had been when 
the Queen could truly tell him — 

" Your words, 

Domestics to you, serve your will, as't please 
Yourself pronounce their office." 

Now this very power of speech proves a fatal facility of 
self-deception, and the faculties he had exercised with- 
out sincerity delude and mock himself. Yet, ere the 



235 

curtain falls upon this " child of honour," both Wolseys 
are revived to our retrospect, and from Griffith, the 
honest chronicler, and from the half -relenting Queen, we 
have both sides of the shield which had borne the honors 
and covered the "ill example" of the "Little good 
Lord Cardinal." The character is worth a patient study. 

Woman, ad. Feeling deeply ; giving way to grief. 

Woman- tired. Henpecked ; from " tire ;" in falconry, " to 
peck." 

Wondered. Capable of performing wonders ; wondrous. 

Woo. To wait upon. 

Wood. Mad. 

Wood. Crazy ; frantic. 

Woodbine. The tendril which supports the honeysuckle. 

Woodcock. A foolish sort of fellow. Shakespeare must have 
held the bird identical with the Snipe Both are easily 
entrapped — caught with " springes." 

Wooden thong. An unattainable object — one that cannot be 
moulded at will. 

Woodman. A huntsman ; a rake ; a forester's assistant. 

Wooed. Actually married, as well as courted. The wooing 
of ThesfMS was of the rough kind acceptable to the Ama- 
zonian females. He "wooed" her with his sword, in- 
flicting wounds upon her person — a barbarous usage 
still in force in a modified form in parts of Turkestan. 

Woolvish. Made of wool. 

Woolward. Wearing wool, or without a shirt- 

Woo't. A Lancashire and Somersetshire abridgment of 
"Would'stthouf 

Word. To put off with words. 

Work. A fortification. 

Workings. Thoughts ; designs ; decrees. 

World. " Go to the world " — get married. 

World to see. Wonderful. 

Worm holes. Deposits of old records. 

Wormwood. A shrub, the stems of which are very bitter to 
the taste. 

Worship. Dignity. It was formerly the mode of address of 
or to a Knight or a Squire. It is now confined to 
mayors of cities. 



236 

Wort. A sort of cabbage ; an edible vegetable. Sir Hugh 
Evans 1 Welsh pronunciation of " words " (worts) en- 
ables Falstaff to jeer him. " Good worts ! Good cab- 
bage." 

Worthies. " The nine worthies," viz., Hector, Alexander the 
Great, Julius Caesar, Joshua, David, Judas Maccabeas, 
King Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey de Bouillon. 

Worthless. Emulation ; unworthy ; rivalry. 

Wot. Know. An old word still used in the rural districts of 
Scotland. 

Wrack. Rack ; wreck ; destruction. 

Wrangle, v. Dispute ; ;?., play false. 

Wreak. To inflict vengeance. 

Wreath, v. To fold the arms defiantly. 

Wrest. An instrument for tuning the harp ; a key. Fig- 
uratively, it is a means of closely connecting people and 
objects. 

Wretch. A fond term. 

Writ. Writing ; written. 

Write. To pronounce confidently. 

Writhed. Wrinkled. 

Wringing. Writhing. 

Wrong. Hurt ; injury. 

Wrongled. Misled. 

Wroth. Anger ; angry ; misfortune. 

Wrought. Agitated. 

Wrung. Pressed ; strained. 

Wry. To deviate ; to wander from virtue's path. 

Wrynecked fife. In playing the fife or flute the head of the 
performer unconsciously inclines downwards to the right, 
and he becomes "wrynecked." Shakespeare has con- 
founded the instrument with the performer. 



Yare. Quick ; light ; be quick ! 

Yarely. Seldom ; readily. 

Yarely frame. Dexterously perform. 

Yaughan. A village near Elsinorey, Denmark. 

Yea, forsooth. A sycophantic form of compliance common to 



237 

the trading and similar classes in their intercourse with 
the aristocracy. 

Yean. To produce young. 

Yearn. Crave for ; move with pain ; grieve ; annoy. 

Yearned. Grieved ; heart moved ; vexed. 

Yclad. Clothed. % 

Yclept. Called (from "to clip.") 

Yellowness. Jealousy. , 

Yeoman. A country gentleman not entitled to a coat-of-arms ; 
also, a bailiff's follower. 

Yerk. To jerk or stab. 

Yesty. Fermenting ; folly. 

Yet. As yet ; hitherto. 

Yew. This tree was called double-fated because its leaves 
were supposed to be poisonous and the branches were 
convertible to bows in archery. 

Yield, v. To impart. 

Yielders. Those who give way easily. 

Yoke. Control ; dependence. " Their yokes," {Merry Wives 
of Windsor) refers to the horns. 

Yond. Yonder. 

Young. Early in the day. 

Youngling. Youth ; a stripling. 

Younker. Youth. 

Your. This pronoun has no reference to the quality of pos- 
session when colloquially applied, as " Your Dove," 
"Your Lion," "Your Wildfowl," &c. It was an old 
form of speech, the pronoun simply doing duty for the 
definite article "the." 



z 



Zany. A fool ; a buffoon. 
Zealous. Pious. 
Zed. A term of contempt. 
Zodiac. An annual circle. 



APPENDIX 



Scene from Act III, Scene IV, or Henry V. 

Translated. 

[The old French orthography has been followed literally.] 

Kath. Alice ; tu as este en Angleterre et tu paries bien le langage. 
Alice, you have been in England and can speak the language well. 
Alice. Un peu, madame. 

A little, my lady. 
Kath. Je te prie m'enseignez ; il faut que j'apprenne a parler. 
Comment appellez vous la main en Anglois ? 

I beg of you to teach me ; I must learn to speak (the language.) 
What do you call " la main " in England ? 
Alice. " La main?" Elle est appellee, de hand. 

It is called the hand. 
Kath. De hand ; est les doights ? 

And the fingers ? 
Alice. Les doights ? ma foi j'oublie les doights, mais je me souvi- 
endray. Les doights ? Je pense qu'ils sont appellee des fingres, oui, 
fingres. 

Les doights ? Faith, I forgot ' ' les doights, " but I shall remember. 
I think they are called the fingers— yes, the fingers. 

Kath. La main, de hand; les doights, de fingers. Je pense que je 
suis le bon ecolier. J'ai gagne deux mots de l'Angloise vistement. 
Comment appellez vous les ongles ? 

I think I am a good scholar. I have acquired two English words 
very quickly. What do you call " les ongles?" 
Alice. Les ongles? Les appellons, " de nails." 

The " ongles?' 1 '' They call them the nails. 
Kath. De nails ! Ecoutez ; dites moi si je parle bien. De hand, de 
fingres, de nails. 

De nails. Listen ! Tell me if I speak well. 
Alice. C'est bien dit, madame ; il est fort bon Anglois. 

It is well said, madam. It is very good English. 
Kath. Dit moi en Anglois, "les bras." 

Tell me in English, " les bras." 
Alice. De arms, madame. 
Kath. Est le coude. And the coude. 
Alice. De elbow. 



240 

Kath. De elbow ? Je m'en f aitz la repetition de tous les mots, que 
vous m'avez appris des a present. 

the elbow ? I must now repeat all the toords you have taught me 
to the present time. 

Alice. II est trop difficile, madame, comme je pense. 

It is rather difficult, madam, T think. 
Kath. Excusez moi, Alice ; escoutez. 

Excuse me, Alice; listen. 
(She repeats then, however, calling the elbow the bilbow.) 
O Seigneur Dieu, je m'en oublie ; de elbow. Comment appellez vous 
le col? 

Oh, Lord, I am forgetting it. " Be elbow." What do you call 
"lecol?" 
Alice. De neck, madam. 

Kath. De neck. Etlementon? [Alice. u Le menton." The chin. 
Kath. De sin, &c] 

Alice. Oui. Sauf vostre honneur ; en veritc vous prononcez les mots 
aussi droits ; que les natifs d'Angleterre. 

Yes. Save your honor. In truth, you pronounce the words as 
correctly as the natives of England. 

Kath. Je ne doute point d'apprendre, par la grace de Dieu, et en peu 
de temps. 

I do not doubt of being able to learn, by the grace of God, and in 
a short time. 

Alice. N'avez vous pas deja oublie ce que je vous ay enseignez ? 

Have you not already forgotten what I taught you ? 
Kath. Non je reciteray a vous promptement. De hand, &c. 

No ; I will repeat it all to you quickly. (She makes two mistakes 
in calling the nails " the mails " and elbow " the ilbow. 1 ') 

Kath. Ainsi dis je, de elbow, &c. Comment appellez vous les pieds 
et la robe ? 

How do you translate "les pieds" et "la robe." 
Alice. De foot, madame, et de gown. 
Kath. Je reciterai une autre fois ma lecon ensemble. 

I will at another time repeat the lesson with you. 
Alice. Excellent, madame. 
Kath. C'est assez pour une fois ; allons nous a disner. 

ThaVs enough for one time ; let us go to dinner. 
[There are two or three words at the close of the dialogue which, as 
pronounced by the Princess Katharine, have so immodest an interpre- 
tation that they have been left untranslated. — J. H. S.] 



Extract feom Act V, Scene II. 

Heney V. You are like an angel. 

Kath. Que dit il? Que je suis semblable aux anges? 

What sayeth he f That I resemble angels ? 
Alice. Oui vraiment, (sauf votre grace,) ainsi dit il. 

Yes, truly, saving your grace ; that's what he says. 



241 

Kath. O, bon Dieu. les langues des hommes sont pleine de trompe- 
ries. 

0, good heaven, the tongues of men are full of deceits. 
Kath. Sauf votre honneur. 

Saving your honor. 
Heney V. Quand j'ay la possession de France, et quand yous avez 
la possession de moi — done, vostre est France, et vous etes mienue. 

When I have possession of France and you possess me, then 
France is yours and you are mine ! 

Kath. Sauf votre honneur, le Francois que vous parlez est meilleur 
que l'Anglois que je parle. 

Saving your honor, the French that you speak is better than the 
English that I speak. 

Heney V. La plus belle Katharine du monde ; mon tres chere et 
divine deesse. 

The most beautiful Katharine in the world ; my very dear and 
divine goddess. 

Kath. Laissez, mon seigneur, laissez, laissez ; ma foy, je ne veux 
point que vous abaissez votre grandeur, en baisant la main d'une votre 
indigne serviteur ; excusez moi, je vous supplie, mon tres puissant seig- 
neur. 

Stay, let go, my lord. Faith, I would not have you lower your 
greatness In kissing the hand of your unworthy servant. Excuse me, I 
entreat of you, most powerful lord. 

Les dames, et damoiselles, pour estre baisees devant leurs noces ; il 
n'est pas le coutume de France. 

It is not the custom in France for ladies, or young ladies, to be 
kissed before marriage. 



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